Cameron G. Thies is Professor, Harlan E. McGregor Faculty Fellow, and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Iowa. His research focuses on International Relations theory through the contributions of role theory, as well as state building in the developing world. He has published widely in journals such as World Politics, European Journal of International Relations, British Journal of Political Science, and International Studies Quarterly.
The core contribution of Cameron Thies' inaugural book in Routledge's new series on role theory and foreign policy is the notion of state socialization. Embedded in the language of role theory, the concept explains how international system structure emerges as a result of the socializing interactions among the units. Importantly, the concept of state socialization allows Thies to account for both continuity and change in the international system. In doing so, Thies' book offers a solidly constructed bridge between agent and structure in international politics. -Marijke Breuning, University of North Texas The United States, Israel and the Search for International Order is the best monograph on role theory in recent years. Thies provides an intriguing and elegant model that accounts for state socialization using role theory. Going beyond disciplinary and epistemological boundaries, this book establishes a theoretically sophisticated but concise argument for role behavior by established and novice states. It exposes unexpected commonalities of role bearing states in different international orders and introduces convincing causal mechanisms to explain them. This is a signal contribution to role scholarship in IR and Foreign Policy Analysis. -Sebastian Harnisch, University of Heidelberg