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Nicholas Spykman’s Interactional Realism: Irony, Social Theory, Political Geography

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Realism

Part of the book series: Trends in European IR Theory ((TEIRT))

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Abstract

Founder of the first autonomous department of International Relations at Yale University in 1934, the Dutch-born Nicholas J. Spykman (1893–1943) is generally presented as one of the prominent figures of Anglo-Saxon geopolitics, in the tradition of Mackinder and Mahan. However, the true originality of this eminent representative of the realist school lies more fundamentally in a pioneering sociological approach to international relations. This advocate of the League of Nations is particularly remarkable by his consistent transposition of Georg Simmel’s “conflict functionalism” to the socio-spatial interactions of international society. For a long time, Spykman has been a rather neglected figure in the bibliographies of the interdisciplinary nexus of International Relations. Leaning on previously inaccessible archival documents, this chapter traces back the roots of Spykman’s profoundly original thought balancing between interactionism and institutionalism, which could offer some insights in order to better understand the multipolar “coopetition” that characterizes current international relations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Lyon, France

    Olivier Zajec

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  1. Olivier Zajec
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Correspondence to Olivier Zajec .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany

    Alexander Reichwein

  2. School of Humanities, Coventry University, Coventry, UK

    Felix Rösch

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Zajec, O. (2021). Nicholas Spykman’s Interactional Realism: Irony, Social Theory, Political Geography. In: Reichwein, A., Rösch, F. (eds) Realism. Trends in European IR Theory. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58455-9_6

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