Theories of International Politics and Zombies by Daniel Drezner

When I heard about this book, I was convinced it was something I needed to read, but had no idea when I'd have the time or funding to do so. Fortunately for me, my friend (and now soon-to-be military chaplain) Matt Moynihan decided to buy the book and give it to me. Thanks, Moyni! My review falls after the jump break.



The book basically provides a (very) brief summary of various political theories, illustrating how each school of thought operates by applying its thinking to the possibility of a zombie outbreak. It's a pretty interesting conceit, and gets at one of the main reasons I find contemplating the zombie apocalypse so intellectually satisfying. From the second chapter:

Scholars, commentators, and policy analysts rely on deductive theories as a cognitive guide in a complex world. The more observational implications that flow from these theories, the greater their explanatory leverage over known unknowns and unknown unknowns. One measure of their explanatory leverage is their ability to offer useful and counterintuitive predictions in the wake of exogenous shocks to the system. Surely an army of the ravenous living dead would qualify as such a shock.

Zombie denialists might argue that since there is minimal chance of the dead rising from the grave and feasting upon the living this exercise will yield little in the way of enlightenment. This ignores the ways in which world politics is changing, and the need for international relations scholarship to change with it. [...] Zombies are the perfect twenty-first-century threat: they are not well understood by serious analysts, they possess protean capabilities, and the challenge they pose to states is very, very grave. (pp. 17-18)

Drezner captures my sentiment quite well here. The fiction of a zombie apocalypse is a way to understand the reality of less extreme (and therefore harder to parse) circumstances.

After clarifying some definitions, the book goes on to describe policy reactions to zombies as dictated by realist, liberal, neoconservative, and constructivist perspectives. It also deals with concerns of local policy, bureaucratic implementation, and psychological biases and reactions. On the whole, the book covers a lot of ground, which means it doesn't go very deeply into any of these topics.

I found this last point a bit disappointing, as I was prepared to wade through a bit more technical discussion. I can handle using a vocabulary outside my own field if it means getting a fuller picture of the political issues behind zombie preparedness and response. What I got was a few terms and a snapshot of how they might work their way out in catastrophic circumstances, but not much else. I think if the book sparks an interest in the underlying theories I'm supposed to take a proper class, but... yeah, no thanks.

In the end, I can actually see this finding its way into one of those really fun interdisciplinary classes people complain about from time to time, something with a title like "Social Theory of Armageddon." It definitely belongs on my shelf. But it felt a bit too rushed and introductory for an unqualified endorsement. In the end, it's pretty good beach reading... if you like reading about the zombie apocalypse and political theory while hanging out on the beach.

While we're on the subject, there's this from The Onion News Network:

Zombie Reagan Raised From Grave To Lead GOP