  From the expression for the electromagnetic field in the neighborhood of a
point charge we determine the rate of electromagnetic momentum flow, calculated
using the Maxwell stress tensor, across a surface surrounding the charge. From
that we derive for a `point charge' the radiation reaction formula, which turns
out to be proportional to the first time-derivative of the acceleration of the
charge, identical to the expression for the self-force, hitherto obtained in
the literature from the detailed mutual interaction between constituents of a
small charged sphere. We then use relativistic transformations to arrive at a
generalized formula for radiation reaction for a point charge undergoing a
relativistic motion.
