The Expansion Of International Society

This book explores the West-Central African role in, and experience during, the expansion of international society. Building upon theoretical contributions from the English School of international relations, historical sociology and sociology, it departs from Euro-centric assumptions by analysing how West-Central Africa and West-Central Africans were integral to the ways in which Europe and Africa came together from the fifteenth century through to the twentieth. Initially, diverse scholarship concerned with the expansion of international society is examined, revealing how the process has often been understood as one dictated by Europeans. From there a new approach is developed, one which is better able to examine the expansion as an interactive process between individuals, and which puts the African experience at the heart of study. The empirical research that follows this draws upon primary sources to introduce a number of historically significant and ground-breaking cases into international relations, including; the international relations of West-Central Africa before the European arrival, the emergence and growth of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the attempts to ‘civilize’ Africa, and the ‘scramble’ to colonize Africa. This book argues that the expansion of international society was driven by individual interaction, and was shaped by both Africans and Europeans. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, international relations theory, history, African politics, the English school and constructivism. Author John Anthony Pella introduces his book African and the Expansion of International Society: Surrendering the Savannah http://www.routledge.com/politics/articles/featured_author_john_anthony_pella/

This book provides an introduction to, and analysis of, the English School’s views on International Relations as they developed from the somewhat vague state/society distinction to the present focus on foundation institutions, regional organisation and the globalization of international society. It focuses on key thinkers and texts and turning points and moves our understanding of the English School beyond the past work of the British Committee to the more recent work of Barry Buzan et. al. to offer a comprehensive overview and interrogation from the leading lights of this arm of International Relations thought. This volume is one of the cornerstones of the EISA sponsored Trends in European IR Theory series complementing the volumes on International Political Theory, Liberalism, Realism, International Political Economy, the post-positivist tradition, and Feminism published for the centenary of IR as a discipline.

This volume reconsiders the process of globalization, drawing on a wealth of new perspectives to understand better this momentous historical development.

In this uniquely comprehensive historical study, Adam Watson draws on a lifetime of research and diplomatic experience to explain how international societies function. He examines the systems of ancient states, from Sumer through India, China, Greece, Rome, and Islam, and conducts an in-depth analysis of the worldwide contemporary society which developed from them. The Evolution of International Society describes and compares the changing rules and practices of ancient systems, showing their development within a spectrum ranging from loose international societies of many independent states ordered by some degree of hegemony, to tighter imperial systems tempered by some measure of autonomy. The book demonstrates in convincing detail that political entities have usually co-existed, not in an anarchic state of nature, but organized by agreed rules and practices that derive substantially from past experience. The author also shows that our present international society, although distinct, is only the latest in a series. Lucidly and straightforwardly written, with a strong emphasis on practice, the book makes a major contribution to international theory and to our understanding of international relations.

A new and systematic view of how global international society (GIS) came into being and acquired its current structure and dynamics. Buzan and Schouenborg integrate states, intergovernmental and international non-governmental organisations, and the diffusion of norms, into a single theoretical framework for the study of GIS.

The Globalization of International Society re-examines the development of today's society of sovereign states, drawing on a wealth of new scholarship to challenge the landmark account presented in Bull and Watson's classic work, The Expansion of International Society (OUP, 1984). For Bull and Watson, international society originated in Europe, and expanded as successive waves of new states were integrated into a rule-governed order. International society, on their view, was thus a European cultural artefact - a claim that is at odds with recent scholarship in history, politics, and related fields of research. Bringing together leading scholars from Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States, this book provides an alternative account: it draws out the diversity of polities that existed at around c1500; it shows how interacting identities, political orders, and economic forces were intensifying within and across regions; it details the tangled dynamics that helped to globalize the European conception of a pluralist international society, through patterns of warfare and between East and West. The Globalization of International Society examines the institutional contours of contemporary international society, with its unique blend of universal sovereignty and global law, and its forms of hierarchy that coexist with commitments to international human rights. The book explores the multiple forms of contestation that challenge international society today: contests over the limits of sovereignty in relation to cosmopolitan conceptions of responsibility, disputes over global governance, concerns about persistent economic, racial, and gender-based patterns of disadvantage, and lastly the threat to the established order opened up by the disruptive power of digital communications.

Laying the foundations of a theory of ‘international social closure’ this book examines how actors compete for a seat at the table in the management of international society and how that competition stratifies the international domain. In a broad historical survey from the ‘Family of Civilised Nations’, through the Great Powers’ club, to the G7 and G20 today, Naylor investigates the politics of membership in the exclusive clubs that manage international society and ensure its survival, providing us with a new way to think about how status competition has changed over time and what this means for international politics today. With its sociologically grounded theory, this book advances English School scholarship and transforms the study of contemporary summitry, providing a ground-breaking approach rooted in archival research, elite interviews, and ethnographic participant observation. This book is of interest to international relations scholars interested in the ‘expansion’ and globalisation of international society, the history of international summits, and transformations in international order, as well as to those examining concepts including stratification, hierarchy, and networked governance. With its emphasis on non-state actors in global governance, scholars and practitioners alike working on/for civil society will also find this research of great value.