ABSTRACT
It does not take a close reading of the three previous chapters to appreciate that one's understanding of world politics is highly dependent on the paradigm one employs to interpret the course of events. This is a profound insight. It highlights, as already noted, that the facts do not speak for themselves, that world affairs are not self-evident, that what we know depends on how we go about organizing all the events and trends to which we attach significance. Moreover, the solutions designed to cope with global challenges are likely to be as sound as one's grasp of how and why world politics unfold as they do.
