Synopses & Reviews
This book tells the story of mankind's evolution from a scattering of hunter-gatherer bands to today's integrated global international political economy. Seeking to emulate and challenge the cross-disciplinary influence of the world systems model, the book recasts the study of international relations into a macro-historical perspective, shows how its core concepts work across time, and sets out a new theoretical agenda and a new intellectual role for the discipline.
About the Author
Barry Buzan is Research Professor of International Studies at the University of Westminster and Project Director of the European Security Group at the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute. Prior to this he was Professor of International Relations at the University of Warwick. He has been visiting professor at the International University of Japan and has also been an Olof Palme visiting professor and adviser on foreign affairs to the Swedish government. He is the author of numerous books on International Relations and from 1988-90 was the Chairman of the British International Studies Association.
Richard Little is Professor of International Politics in the Department of Politics at the University of Bristol. Before this he was at the Open University and Lancaster University and has held fellowships at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and the Australian National University. He was editor of the Review of International Studies from 1990-94 and is currently Vice Chair of the B
Table of Contents
Part I: International Systems, World History, and International Relations Theory Chapter 1 Systems, History, Theory and the Study of International Relations
Chapter 2 Competing Conceptions of the International System
Chapter 3 Systemic Thinking in World History
Chapter 4 The Theoretical Toolkit of this Book
Chapter 5 Establishing Criteria for International Systems
Part II: Systems in Pre-International World History
Chapter 6 The Origins of Pre-International Systems
Chapter7 The Transition from Pre-International to International Systems
Part III: The Rise and Interlinkage of Multiple International Systems in the Ancient and Classical World
Chapter 8 The New Units: City States, Empires and Barbarians as the Main Actors of the Ancient and Classical World
Chapter 9 Interaction Capacity
Chapter 10 Process
Chapter 11 Structure
Part IV: The Establishment and Evolution of a Global International System
Chapter 12 Units
Chapter 13 Interaction Capacity
Chapter 14 Process
Chapter 15 Structure
Part V: Speculations, Assessments, Reflections
Chapter 17 What World History tells us about International Relations Theory
Chapter 18 What International Relations Theory tells us about World History
Chapter 19 Reflections