Cycles of Violence provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of how norms, rules, and procedures of decision-making cohere into a decision regime. Ranan D. Kuperman balances careful theoretical discussion with a case study, to track the evolution of a decision regime over time. Focusing on the regime governing Israeli use of limited military force and using quantitative historical analysis as well as qualitative historical surveys, Kuperman uses previously unpublished documents from the 1950s and 1960s to generate a new interpretation of historical events. Cycles of Violence is more than just another examination of the Arab-Israeli conflict; indeed, the methodology and theoretical models developed for this analysis can be replicated for any situation where decision-makers are confronted with a repeated sequence of problems. This book is essential reading for scholars and researchers of the Middle East and security issues.

Why does the academic study of international relations have limited impact on the policy community? When research results are inconsistent, inconclusive, and contradictory, a lack of scholarly consensus discourages policy makers, the business community, and other citizens from trusting findings and conclusions from IR research. In New Directions for International Relations, Alex Mintz and Bruce Russett identify differences in methods of analysis as one cause of these problematic results. They discuss the problem and set the stage for nine chapters by diverse scholars to demonstrate innovative new developments in IR theory and creative new methods that can lay the basis for greater consensus. Looking at areas of concern such as the relationship between lawmaking and the use of military force, the challenge of suppressing extremists without losing moderates, and the public health effects of civil conflict, contributors show how international relations research can generate reliable results that can be, and in fact are, used in the real world.