Nye, Joseph. "International Relations: The Relevance of Theory to Practice". In The Oxford Handbook of International Relations, edited by Christian Reus-Smith and Duncan Snidal. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Nye, Joseph. "International Relations: The Relevance of Theory to Practice". In The Oxford Handbook of International Relations, edited by Christian Reus-Smith and Duncan Snidal. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

• IR has been a profoundly American field, with all major movements, except the English School emerging from the US. Despite this strength, American theorists and policymakers cooperate less than expected (649).
• The system of interplay between academia and government is stronger in America than elsewhere, but it is still rare (649-650).
• Some scholars defend the gap between policy and very as preserving academic integrity, which might otherwise motivate politicization of research (650).
• Where professors do you have the largest impact is in exposing students who tend to become politicians to certain theories (651).
• Part of the dislocation between policy and theory stems from the mainly oral world of top policy officials. Even if academic writing was not specialized and esoteric, it is too long for busy officials to read (654).
•  In recent years, academia has also moved closer to abstract and mathematical theory, and away from historical case studies and area studies, the most policy relevant fields (655).
• Dr. Nye’s advice for young scholars is to focus on academic credentials before seeking policy employment, to learn to write and clear jargon-free English, and to pick research topics of interesting substance (658).