How the World Works: A Brief Survey of International Relations, 3rd edition

REVEL™ is Pearson’s newest way of delivering our respected content. Fully digital and highly engaging, REVEL replaces the textbook and gives students everything they need for the course. Informed by extensive research on how people read, think, and learn, REVEL is an interactive learning environment that enables students to read, practice, and study in one continuous experience — for less than the cost of a traditional textbook.
International Politics: Comparing Paradigms
REVEL for How the World Works: A Brief Survey of International Relations provides the detailed, micro-level knowledge students need to understand world politics, harnessing students’ curiosity about global current events. Author Russell Bova covers the continuing swirl of events that dominate world politics in our present — from the Arab Spring, to the Russian invasion of Crimea, to the rise of ISIS, to the Ebola crisis in West Africa. REVEL for the Third Edition makes improvements in general while maintaining its core mission: to tap into students’ interest in current events and help each student build a conceptual and theoretical sophistication that remains when these current events become a part of history. REVEL for How the World Works challenges students to question their assumptions about the world and what they may think they already know about international relations. Overall, it makes it clear that even scholars and politicians disagree about the world’s political and economic interactions, and makes a point to introduce students to all paradigms — encouraging them to form their own opinions about how the world works.
Learn more about REVEL.

Dynamic content matched to the way today's students read, think, and learn brings content to life

• Integrated within the narrative, interactives and videos empower students to engage with concepts and take an active role in learning. REVEL's unique presentation of media as an intrinsic part of course content brings the hallmark features of Pearson's bestselling titles to life. REVEL's media interactives have been designed to be completed quickly, and its videos are brief, so students stay focused and on task.
• Located throughout REVEL, quizzing affords students opportunities to check their understanding at regular intervals before moving on.
• REVEL’s integrated writing tools enable educators to introduce writing – among the best ways to foster and assess critical thinking – into the course without significantly impacting their grading burden. Self-paced Journaling Prompts throughout the narrative encourage students to express their thoughts without breaking stride in their reading. Assignable Shared Writing Activities direct students to share written responses with classmates, fostering peer discussion.
  
• REVEL’s fully mobile learning experience enables students to read and interact with course material on the devices they use, anywhere and anytime. Responsive design allows students to access REVEL on their tablet devices and smart phones, with content displayed clearly in both portrait and landscape view.
• Highlighting, note taking, and a glossary let students read and study however they like. Educators can add notes for students, too, including reminders or study tips.

Superior assignability and tracking tools help educators make sure students are completing their reading and understanding core concepts

• REVEL’s assignment calendar allows educators to indicate precisely which readings must be completed on which dates. This clear, detailed schedule helps students stay on task by eliminating any ambiguity as to which material will be covered during each class. And when students know what is expected of them, they're better motivated to keep up.
• REVEL’s performance dashboard lets educators monitor class assignment completion as well as individual student achievement. It offers actionable information that helps educators intersect with their students in meaningful ways, such as points earned on quizzes and tests and time on task. Of particular note, the trending column reveals whether students' grades are improving or declining — which helps educators identify students who might need help to stay on track.

UPDATED! Each chapter has been brought up-to-date with the most current events in international relations

• NEW! Chapter 1 includes a new section on non-paradigmatic research, as well as a new Theory in Practice box on Obama and his constructivism in labeling terrorists.
• NEW! Chapter 2 takes into account recent scholarship on “The Myth of 1648” and has updated its discussion of both the Ukraine crisis and the Arab Spring.
• NEW! and UPDATED! Chapter 3 is reorganized around two themes: the level of analysis and the assumption of rationality in foreign policy decision making. There are updates to the cognitive decision making model, and a new Theory in Practice box applies rational actor, cognitive, and poliheuristic decision-making approaches to the student college selection process.
• NEW! Chapter 4 includes a breakout section on the causes of war, and a Theory in Practice box on “the drone revolution”.
• NEW! Chapter 5 has been updated in general throughout all sections.
• NEW! and UPDATED! Chapter 6 includes a clarified discussion of the role of the Human Rights Council, adds a discussion of Libya in the section on humanitarian intervention, expands the discussion and assessment of the R2P record, and adds a new Theory in Practice box on Palestine and the International Criminal Court.
• UPDATED! Chapter 7 includes updates in its discussion of the EU to account for post-2008 trends and the crisis in Greece, as well as the section on the global financial crisis and its aftermath.
• NEW! and UPDATED! Chapter 8 clarifies its discussions of global public goods and common pool resources, the fracking revolution and its impact on the environment and global energy politics, and global climate governance post-Kyoto. It includes a new section on the 2014 ebola scare, a new Theory in Practice box on ebola vs. the flu, and the role of social media in the Arab Spring.
• UPDATED! Chapter 9 retains the seven competing visions of the global future approach but changes the hypothetical future histories style to a more straightforward presentation and critique.   

The text explores different paradigms of international relations to provide a non-biased view and bring core concepts full circle

• Each chapter explores a specific issue related to international politics, such as war, human rights, and economic globalization, to shed light on the realist approach and its alternative paradigms.
• In nine chapters, the book brings readers full circle to analyze and articulate the data they’ve learned to defend their own theoretical preferences for understanding world politics in a sophisticated manner. Along the way, it touches on the following topics:
  • Chapter 1: challenges posed to the realist paradigm in the context of real global events
  • Chapter 2: the history of international relations and the related rise and fall of theoretical paradigms
  • Chapter 3: foreign policy making and shaping state behavior
  • Chapter 4: war and violence
  • Chapter 5: liberal institutionalism in international law and organization
  • Chapter 6: constructivism in international human rights
  • Chapters 7 and 8: economic globalization and transnational issues
  • Chapter 9: a proposal of seven alternative global futures  

Pedagogical features support chapter goals

• To help students keep chapter goals in mind, each chapter begins with a reminder of the larger theoretical debate, and the bulk of each chapter focuses on the empirical record of the topic at hand.
• Theory in Practice boxes appear two or three times in each chapter and apply a chapter concept to a real world event to reinforce the notion that international relations have a direct impact on student lives. Critical thinking questions at the end of each box encourage students to analyze international relations concepts on their own.
• Photos and figures in each chapter relate to text material and help students put concepts in visual context.
• Key terms are highlighted within each chapter and then listed again at the end. A marginal glossary provides brief definitions of terms for quick reference in each chapter.
• Review questions at the end of each chapter review the three major issues discussed to test students’ knowledge of their larger significance.
• A map insert with maps of the world, North America, South America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, East and South Asia, and Australia and Oceania puts text material in geographical context.

Dynamic content matched to the way today's students read, think, and learn brings content to life

• Integrated within the narrative, interactives and videos empower students to engage with concepts and take an active role in learning. REVEL's unique presentation of media as an intrinsic part of course content brings the hallmark features of Pearson's bestselling titles to life. REVEL's media interactives have been designed to be completed quickly, and its videos are brief, so students stay focused and on task.
• Located throughout REVEL, quizzing affords students opportunities to check their understanding at regular intervals before moving on.
• REVEL’s integrated writing tools enable educators to introduce writing – among the best ways to foster and assess critical thinking – into the course without significantly impacting their grading burden. Self-paced Journaling Prompts throughout the narrative encourage students to express their thoughts without breaking stride in their reading. Assignable Shared Writing Activities direct students to share written responses with classmates, fostering peer discussion.
• REVEL’s fully mobile learning experience enables students to read and interact with course material on the devices they use, anywhere and anytime. Responsive design allows students to access REVEL on their tablet devices and smart phones, with content displayed clearly in both portrait and landscape view.
• Highlighting, note taking, and a glossary let students read and study however they like. Educators can add notes for students, too, including reminders or study tips.

Superior assignability and tracking tools help educators make sure students are completing their reading and understanding core concepts

• REVEL’s assignment calendar allows educators to indicate precisely which readings must be completed on which dates. This clear, detailed schedule helps students stay on task by eliminating any ambiguity as to which material will be covered during each class. And when students know what is expected of them, they're better motivated to keep up.
• REVEL’s performance dashboard lets educators monitor class assignment completion as well as individual student achievement. It offers actionable information that helps educators intersect with their students in meaningful ways, such as points earned on quizzes and tests and time on task. Of particular note, the trending column reveals whether students' grades are improving or declining — which helps educators identify students who might need help to stay on track.

Each chapter has been brought up-to-date with the most current events in international relations

• Chapter 1 includes a new section on non-paradigmatic research, as well as a new Theory in Practice box on Obama and his constructivism in labeling terrorists.
• Chapter 2 takes into account recent scholarship on “The Myth of 1648” and has updated its discussion of both the Ukraine crisis and the Arab Spring.
• UPDATED! Chapter 3 is reorganized around two themes: the level of analysis and the assumption of rationality in foreign policy decision making. There are updates to the cognitive decision making model, and a new Theory in Practice box applies rational actor, cognitive, and poliheuristic decision-making approaches to the student college selection process.
• Chapter 4 includes a breakout section on the causes of war, and a Theory in Practice box on “the drone revolution”.
• Chapter 5 has been updated in general throughout all sections.
• UPDATED! Chapter 6 includes a clarified discussion of the role of the Human Rights Council, adds a discussion of Libya in the section on humanitarian intervention, expands the discussion and assessment of the R2P record, and adds a new Theory in Practice box on Palestine and the International Criminal Court.
• UPDATED! Chapter 7 includes updates in its discussion of the EU to account for post-2008 trends and the crisis in Greece, as well as the section on the global financial crisis and its aftermath.
• UPDATED! Chapter 8 clarifies its discussions of global public goods and common pool resources, the fracking revolution and its impact on the environment and global energy politics, and global climate governance post-Kyoto. It includes a new section on the 2014 ebola scare, a new Theory in Practice box on ebola vs. the flu, and the role of social media in the Arab Spring.
• UPDATED! Chapter 9 retains the seven competing visions of the global future approach but changes the hypothetical future histories style to a more straightforward presentation and critique.