Michael A. Allen

Ready Player One meets Foreign Affairs—everything your students need to know about international relations through the lens of video games!The Gamer’s Guide to International Relations uses massively popular video games as a stepping stone to learning about international relations. The study of international relations concerns itself with critical topics like war, civil war, terrorism, human rights, trade, monetary policy, and the environment. Each of these areas of human need, crisis, and response can be difficult to understand. However, gamers already implicitly understand the international world through the games they play. Drawing upon lessons gamers learn through gameplay, this volume guides readers as to how their existing knowledge can help untangle some of the most complicated topics facing humanity. The book progresses by introducing readers to how scholars use the scientific method in international relations. Readers will encounter pivotal international relations theories that explain why war occurs, like realism, liberalism, and constructivism, as well as understanding concepts like the bargaining model of war. The book discusses how we learn about international politics and guides the reader through how we can research world politics and gaming. Finally, the book focuses on key interest areas like international political economy, human rights, the environment, and civil war.

Ready Player One meets Foreign Affairs—everything your students need to know about international relations through the lens of video games!The Gamer’s Guide to International Relations uses massively popular video games as a stepping stone to learning about international relations. The study of international relations concerns itself with critical topics like war, civil war, terrorism, human rights, trade, monetary policy, and the environment. Each of these areas of human need, crisis, and response can be difficult to understand. However, gamers already implicitly understand the international world through the games they play. Drawing upon lessons gamers learn through gameplay, this volume guides readers as to how their existing knowledge can help untangle some of the most complicated topics facing humanity. The book progresses by introducing readers to how scholars use the scientific method in international relations. Readers will encounter pivotal international relations theories that explain why war occurs, like realism, liberalism, and constructivism, as well as understanding concepts like the bargaining model of war. The book discusses how we learn about international politics and guides the reader through how we can research world politics and gaming. Finally, the book focuses on key interest areas like international political economy, human rights, the environment, and civil war.

In a time where US deployments are uncertain, this book shows how US service members can either build the necessary support to sustain their presence or create added animosity towards the military presence. The United States stands at a crossroads in international security. The backbone of its international position for the last 70 years has been the massive network of overseas military deployments. However, the US now faces pressures to limit its overseas presence and spending. In Beyond the Wire, Michael Allen, Michael Flynn, Carla Martinez Machain, and Andrew Stravers argue that the US has entered into a "Domain of Competitive Consent" where the longevity of overseas deployments relies upon the buy-in from host-state populations and what other major powers offer in security guarantees. Drawing from three years of surveys and interviews across fourteen countries, they demonstrate that a key component of building support for the US mission is the service members themselves as they interact with local community members. Highlighting both the positive contact and economic benefits that flow from military deployments and the negative interactions like crime and anti-base protests, this book shows in the most rigorous and concrete way possible how US policy on the ground shapes its ability to advance its foreign policy goals.