Still on the Long Road to Theory

Abstract

This review endeavours to identify the essential features of Lebow's attempt in A Cultural Theory of International Relations to provide a new grand theory of international relations. Lebow's starting point is that all existing grand theories in the field are fundamentally flawed because they operate on the basis of one-dimensional and oversimplified views of human motivation. He is particularly critical of interest-based theories of international relations, and his aim is to establish a conception of the human psyche that will allow him to introduce a cultural or social dimension to human motivation, and it is on this basis that he then endeavours to generate a cultural theory of international relations.