Most cited papers in International Relations and Foreign Policy
What are the most cited papers in International Relations and Foreign Policy?
The most cited paper in International Relations and Foreign Policy is "Diplomacy and domestic politics: the logic of two-level games" (Robert D. Putnam, 1988), with 7,438 citations. Next come "Theory of International Politics, by Kenneth N. Waltz" (6,392) and "World Society and the Nation‐State" (4,712).
Showing 50 of 97 papers. Every paper with more than 633 citations is listed.
| # | Paper | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diplomacy and domestic politics: the logic of two-level games Robert D. Putnam · International Organization | 1988 | 7,438 |
| 2 | Theory of International Politics, by Kenneth N. Waltz Robert F. Randle · Political Science Quarterly | 1980 | 6,392 |
| 3 | World Society and the Nation‐State John W. Meyer, John Boli, GEORGE M. THOMAS et al. · American Journal of Sociology | Jul 1997 | 4,712 |
| 4 | Rationalist explanations for war James D. Fearon · International Organization | 1995 | 4,017 |
| 5 | Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory Robert W. Cox · Millennium Journal of International Studies | Jun 1981 | 2,937 |
| 6 | Structural causes and regime consequences: regimes as intervening variables Stephen D. Krasner · International Organization | 1982 | 2,615 |
| 7 | The territorial trap: The geographical assumptions of international relations theory John A. Agnew · Review of International Political Economy | Mar 1994 | 2,519 |
| 8 | Domestic Political Audiences and the Escalation of International Disputes James D. Fearon · American Political Science Review | Sep 1994 | 2,385 |
| 9 | International regimes R. J. Barry Jones · International Affairs | 1983 | 2,371 |
| 10 | The Rational Design of International Institutions Barbara Koremenos, Charles Lipson, Duncan Snidal · International Organization | 2001 | 2,365 |
| 11 | How Ideas Spread: Whose Norms Matter? Norm Localization and Institutional Change in Asian Regionalism Amitav Acharya · International Organization | Apr 2004 | 2,329 |
| 12 | The Politics, Power, and Pathologies of International Organizations Michael Barnett, Martha Finnemore · International Organization | 1999 | 2,109 |
| 13 | Power and Interdependence Robert O. Keohane, Joseph S. Nye · International Organization | 16 Aug 2013 | 2,028 |
| 14 | Power in International Politics Michael Barnett, Raymond D. Duvall · International Organization | 2005 | 1,791 |
| 15 | Why States Act through Formal International Organizations Kenneth Wayne Abbott, Duncan Snidal · Journal of Conflict Resolution | Feb 1998 | 1,776 |
| 16 | Weaponized Interdependence: How Global Economic Networks Shape State Coercion Henry John Farrell, Abraham L. Newman · International Security | 2019 | 1,746 |
| 17 | Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics Barry M. Blechman · Political Science Quarterly | 2004 | 1,669 |
| 18 | Anarchy and the limits of cooperation: a realist critique of the newest liberal institutionalism Joseph M. Grieco · International Organization | 1988 | 1,657 |
| 19 | Ontological Security in World Politics: State Identity and the Security Dilemma Jennifer Mitzen · European Journal of International Relations | Sep 2006 | 1,654 |
| 20 | The second image reversed: the international sources of domestic politics Peter Gourevitch · International Organization | 1978 | 1,605 |
| 21 | Collective Identity Formation and the International State Alexander E. Wendt · American Political Science Review | Jun 1994 | 1,578 |
| 22 | Seizing the Middle Ground: Emanuel Adler · European Journal of International Relations | Sep 1997 | 1,447 |
| 23 | International Institutions and Socialization in Europe: Introduction and Framework Jeffrey T. Checkel · International Organization | Oct 2005 | 1,445 |
| 24 | Achieving Cooperation under Anarchy: Strategies and Institutions Robert Axelrod, Robert O. Keohane · World Politics | Oct 1985 | 1,438 |
| 25 | The security dilemma and ethnic conflict Barry R. Posen · Survival | Mar 1993 | 1,417 |
| 26 | Structural Realism after the Cold War Kenneth N. Waltz · International Security | Jul 2000 | 1,327 |
| 27 | The Promise of Constructivism in International Relations Theory Ted Hopf · International Security | Jul 1998 | 1,307 |
| 28 | The Constructive Turn in International Relations Theory Jeffrey T. Checkel · World Politics | 1998 | 1,281 |
| 29 | The Stability of a Unipolar World William C. Wohlforth · International Security | Jul 1999 | 1,238 |
| 30 | Norms, culture, and world politics: insights from sociology's institutionalism Martha Finnemore · International Organization | 1996 | 1,223 |
| 31 | The Three Faces of Securitization: Political Agency, Audience and Context Thierry Balzacq · European Journal of International Relations | Jun 2005 | 1,205 |
| 32 | The Emerging Structure of International Politics Kenneth N. Waltz · International Security | 1993 | 1,192 |
| 33 | The Fragmentation of Global Governance Architectures: A Framework for Analysis Frank Biermann, Philipp H. Pattberg, Harro van Asselt et al. · Global Environmental Politics | 14 Oct 2009 | 1,184 |
| 34 | Signaling Foreign Policy Interests James D. Fearon · Journal of Conflict Resolution | Feb 1997 | 1,147 |
| 35 | Liberalism and World Politics Michael William Doyle · American Political Science Review | Dec 1986 | 1,134 |
| 36 | Treating International Institutions as Social Environments Alastair Iain Johnston · International Studies Quarterly | Dec 2001 | 1,133 |
| 37 | International organization: a state of the art on an art of the state Friedrich V. Kratochwil, John Gerard Ruggie · International Organization | 1986 | 1,111 |
| 38 | The Renaissance of Security Studies Stephen M. Walt · International Studies Quarterly | Jun 1991 | 1,070 |
| 39 | An Institutional Explanation of the Democratic Peace Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, James D. Morrow, Randolph M. Siverson et al. · American Political Science Review | Dec 1999 | 1,057 |
| 40 | International practices Emanuel Adler, Vincent Pouliot · International Theory | 18 Feb 2011 | 1,024 |
| 41 | The Study of Discourse in International Relations: Jennifer Milliken · European Journal of International Relations | Jun 1999 | 1,020 |
| 42 | War as a Commitment Problem Robert Powell · International Organization | 2006 | 1,019 |
| 43 | The Politics of International Regime Complexity Karen J. Alter, Sophie Meunier · Perspectives on Politics | 12 Feb 2009 | 1,015 |
| 44 | Militarized Interstate Disputes, 1816–1992: Rationale, Coding Rules, and Empirical Patterns Daniel M. Jones, Stuart A. Bremer, J. David Singer · Conflict Management and Peace Science | Sep 1996 | 1,011 |
| 45 | Do regimes matter? Epistemic communities and Mediterranean pollution control Peter M. Haas · International Organization | 1989 | 1,006 |
| 46 | National Role Conceptions in the Study of Foreign Policy Kalevi J. Holsti · International Studies Quarterly | Sep 1970 | 988 |
| 47 | Reconstructing the correlates of war dataset on material capabilities of states, 1816–1985 J. David Singer · International Interactions | May 1988 | 986 |
| 48 | Cascading Activation: Contesting the White House's Frame After 9/11 Robert M. Entman · Political Communication | Oct 2003 | 982 |
| 49 | The Classical Liberals Were Right: Democracy, Interdependence, and Conflict, 1950-1985 John R. Oneal, Bruce M. Russet · International Studies Quarterly | Jun 1997 | 955 |
| 50 | Unpacking cosmopolitanism for the social sciences: a research agenda Ulrich Beck, Natan Sznaider · British Journal of Sociology | 28 Feb 2006 | 954 |
Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for a field when OpenAlex files it under one of the field's topics; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.