By surveying articles in major foreign international relations journals published during the past year,the report provides an overview of the important issues and illustrates the new advances in annual studies of international relations.These issues include the unipolar significance of contemporary international patterns,understandings of U.S.foreign policy behavior,debates about the rise of China,reflections on norms in international research,and the role of theory in the study of international relations,global water management,and new developments in international political sociology.To a certain extent,discussions about these issues reflect the new characteristics in current international relations theory. <<