Theories of International Politics and Zombies

By: Daniel W. Drezner

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

What would happen to international politics if the dead rose from the grave and started to eat the living? Daniel Drezner's groundbreaking book answers the question that other international relations scholars have been too scared to ask. Addressing timely issues with analytical bite, Drezner looks at how well-known theories from international relations might be applied to a war with zombies. Exploring the plots of popular zombie films, songs, and books, Theories of International Politics and Zombies predicts realistic scenarios for the political stage in the face of a zombie threat and considers how valid - or how rotten - such scenarios might be.

Drezner boldly lurches into the breach and "stress tests" the ways that different approaches to world politics would explain policy responses to the living dead. He examines the most prominent international relations theories - including realism, liberalism, constructivism, neoconservatism, and bureaucratic politics - and decomposes their predictions. He digs into prominent zombie films and novels, such as Night of the Living Dead and World War Z, to see where essential theories hold up and where they would stumble and fall. Drezner argues that by thinking about outside-of-the-box threats we get a cognitive grip on what former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld famously referred to as the "unknown unknowns" in international security. Correcting the zombie gap in international relations thinking and addressing the genuine but publicly unacknowledged fear of the dead rising from the grave, Theories of International Politics and Zombies presents political tactics and strategies accessible enough for any zombie to digest.

©2011 Daniel W. Drezner (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

intelligently written

Odd initial premise, But worth the work to get through. A great primer for anyone wanting to learn the large concepts of international policy.

Good concept but felt incomplete

Would you try another book from Daniel W. Drezner and/or Oliver Wyman?

Possibly given the right subject matter.

What did you like best about this story?

The content and analisys is excelent.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Oliver Wyman?

Yes his narration was dry but given the writing style he did the best he could.

Could you see Theories of International Politics and Zombies being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Not that type of book.

Any additional comments?

Given that this started as a research paper and was never planned as a book it was well done. I wish the writer would have expanded the real world parrallels and given more detailed conclusions in the book.

writing style too dry for audio-format

Academic style writing probably translates better in actual reading than in listening. Not especially hilarious, either. Just a cute idea.

Easy to understand policy, took a while to get to policy.

This book was a really easy read, I was actually able to read it while I was doing a walk for my job. One piece of feedback that I have is that it literally took 1 hour to actually get to policy and what it stands for. the first hour, the book was talking about the zombie Apocalypse and general information about zombies.

I gather that it was important for us to start there, but it did seem to be a little bit extra for an hour when there was only an hour and a 1/2 left after this time.

Overall, this book helped me as a beginning International Relations student in my 30s and gave me a great foundation for things to build on as I study further. I would 100% recommend this to a new student or a high school or young college student who is just starting their education in International Relations. It's a great introduction to it all.

Does not come with page numbers or PDF format

This was a required text for a college course. It was a solid read considering it was mandatory, my only critique is that there is not PDF offered of the book through audible, as I will need to cite page numbers for my paper due on this, I assumed this would be offered with every book.