Barry Buzan offers an extensive and long overdue critique and reappraisal of the English school approach to International Relations. Starting on the neglected concept of world society and bringing together the international society tradition and the Wendtian mode of constructivism, Buzan offers a new theoretical framework that can be used to address globalisation as a complex political interplay among state and non-state actors. This approach forces English school theory to confront neglected questions about both its basic concepts and assumptions, and about the constitution of society in terms of what values are shared, how and why they are shared, and by whom. Buzan highlights the idea of primary institutions as the central contribution of English school theory and shows how this both differentiates English school theory from realism and neoliberal institutionalism, and how it can be used to generate distinctive comparative and historical accounts of international society.

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.

Bringing together the latest scholarship from a global group of expert contributors, this guide offers a comprehensive examination of the English School approach to the study of international relations. Explains the major ideas of the British Committee on International Relations, including the idea of and institutions connected to an international society, the emerging notion of world society, and order within international relations Describes the English School’s methods of analyzing themes, trends, and dilemmas Focuses on the historical and geographical expansion of international society, and particularly on the effects of colonization and imperialism Serves as an essential reference for students, researchers, and academics in international relations

This analytical interdisciplinary approach to the study of behaviour in world society attempts to make relatively advanced material intelligible to those without the background of political science which has hitherto been necessary. Dr Burton, viewing world society as a total environment in which the behaviour of individuals, groups, nations and states occurs, describes ethnic, political, economic and ideological systems and discusses all aspects of behaviour: decision-making; roles, non-rational activity, problems of perception, values and conflict. He shows how such behaviour relates to that which we know in all social groups and in more confined areas, and states that any analysis of international society, its problems and conflicts, which explains behaviour at one social level differently from activity at another social level must be misleading. This book provides a stimulating and challenging analysis of world society which will interest a wide range of those studying international relations, sociology and politics in universities, schools and colleges of education.

This is a study of the theory and history of international norms. How does international society come to adopt certain norms in particular? This book shows how ideas of international legitimacy have evolved, and makes us rethink the nature of international society.

Since its reorganisation in the 1990s, the English School of International Relations has emerged as a popular theoretical lens through which to examine global events. This volume brings together some of the most important voices on the English School to highlight the multifaceted nature of the School's applications in international relations

International Society and the Middle East brings together a distinguished cast of theorists and Middle East experts to provide a comprehensive overview of the region's history and how its own traditions have mixed, often uncomfortably, with the political structures imposed by the expansion of Western international society.