Barry Buzan proposes a new approach to making International Relations a truly global discipline that transcends both Eurocentrism and comparative civilisations. He narrates the story of humankind as a whole across three eras, using its material conditions and social structures to show how global society has evolved. Deploying the English School's idea of primary institutions and setting their story across three domains - interpolity, transnational and interhuman - this book conveys a living historical sense of the human story whilst avoiding the overabstraction of many social science grand theories. Buzan sharpens the familiar story of three main eras in human history with the novel idea that these eras are separated by turbulent periods of transition. This device enables a radical retelling of how modernity emerged from the late 18th century. He shows how the concept of 'global society' can build bridges connecting International Relations, Global Historical Sociology and Global/World History.

Tracks the material and social conditions of humankind across history, explaining how global society evolved and what its prospects are.

About the Author
Barry Buzan is Emeritus Professor in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Fellow of the British Academy. He has authored, co-authored and edited over thirty books and 170 chapters and articles including Re-imagining International Relations (with Amitav Acharya, 2021) and The Making of Global International Relations (with Amitav Acharya, 2019).


Book Information
ISBN 9781009372183
Author Barry Buzan
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press