The strategic-choice approach has a long pedigree in international relations. In an area often rent by competing methodologies, editors David A. Lake and Robert Powell take the best of accepted and contested knowledge among many theories. With the contributors to this volume, they offer a unifying perspective, which begins with a simple insight: students of international relations want to explain the choices actors make--whether these actors be states, parties, ethnic groups, companies, leaders, or individuals. This synthesis offers three new benefits: first, the strategic interaction of actors is the unit of analysis, rather than particular states or policies; second, these interactions are now usefully organized into analytic schemes, on which conceptual experiments may be based; and third, a set of methodological "bets" is then made about the most productive ways to analyze the interactions. Together, these elements allow the pragmatic application of theories that may apply to a myriad of particular cases, such as individuals protesting environmental degradation, governments seeking to control nuclear weapons, or the United Nations attempting to mobilize member states for international peacekeeping. Besides the editors, the six contributors to this book, all distinguished scholars of international relations, are Jeffry A. Frieden, James D. Morrow, Ronald Rogowski, Peter Gourevitch, Miles Kahler, and Arthur A. Stein. Their work is an invaluable introduction for scholars and students of international relations, economists, and government decision-makers.

Acknowledgements vii
 International Relations: A Strategic-Choice 3 (36)
 Approach
 David A. Lake
 Robert Powell
 Actors and Preferences in International 39 (38)
 Relations
 Jeffry A. Frieden
 The Strategic Setting of Choices: Signaling, 77 (38)
 Commitment, and Negotiation in International
 Politics
 James D. Morrow
 Institutions as Constraints on Strategic 115(22)
 Choice
 Ronald Rogowski
 The Governance Problem in International 137(28)
 Relations
 Peter Alexis Gourevitch
 Evolution, Choice, and International Change 165(32)
 Miles Kabler
 The Limits of Strategic Choice: Constrained 197(32)
 Rationality and Incomplete Explanation
 Arthur A. Stein
 References 229(32)
 About the Authors 261(2)
 Name Index 263(4)
 General Index 267