The Making of Global International Relations Origins and Evolution of IR at its Centenary

This book presents a challenge to the discipline of international relations (IR) to rethink itself, in the light of both its own modern origins, and the two centuries of world history that have shaped it. By tracking the development of thinking about IR, and the practice of world politics, this book shows how they relate to each other across five time periods from nineteenth-century colonialism, through two world wars, the Cold War and decolonization, to twenty-first-century globalization. It gives equal weight to both the neglected voices and histories of the Global South, and the traditionally dominant perspectives of the West, showing how they have moved from nearly complete separation to the beginnings of significant integration. The authors argue that IR needs to continue this globalizing movement if it is to cope with the rapidly emerging post-Western world order, with its more diffuse distribution of wealth, power and cultural authority.

Introduction; 1. The world up to 1919: the making of modern international relations; 2. IR up to 1919: laying the foundations; 3. The world 1919–45: still version 1.0 GIS; 4. IR 1919–45: the first founding of the discipline; 5. The world after 1945: the era of the Cold War and decolonization; 6. IR 1945–89: the second founding of the discipline; 7. The world after 1989: 'unipolarity', globalization and the rise of the rest; 8. IR after 1989; 9. The post-Western world order: deep pluralism; 10. Towards global IR.

Amitav Acharya is Distinguished Professor at the School of International Service, American University, Washington DC. His recent books include Constructing Global Order (Cambridge, 2018) and The End of American World Order (2014). His previous book with Barry Buzan is Non-Western International Relations Theory: Perspectives on and Beyond Asia (2010). He is the recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Scholar Award from ISA's Global South Caucus and the 2018 International Organization Section award.
Barry Buzan is Emeritus Professor in the London School of Economics and Political Science Department of International Relations, Honorary Professor at Copenhagen, Jilin, and China Foreign Affairs Universities, and a Fellow of the British Academy. His recent books include Global International Society, with Laust Schouenborg (Cambridge, 2018), and The Global Transformation, with George Lawson, (Cambridge, 2015) which won the 2017 Francesco Guicciardini Prize for Best Book in Historical International Relations.