The Anarchical Society is one of the masterworks of political science and the classic text on the nature of order in world politics. Originally published in 1977, it continues to define and shape the discipline of international relations. This edition has been updated with a new, interpretive foreword by Andrew Hurrell.

This book takes up one of the key theoretical challenges in the English School’s conceptual framework, namely the nature of the institutions of international society. It theorizes their nature through an analysis of the relationship of primary and secondary levels of institutional formation, so far largely ignored in English School theorizing, and provides case studies to illuminate the theory. Hitherto, the School has largely failed to study secondary institutions such as international organizations and regimes as autonomous objects of analysis, seeing them as mere materializations of primary institutions. Building on legal and constructivist arguments about the constitutive character of institutions, it demonstrates how primary institutions frame secondary organizations and regimes, but also how secondary institutions construct agencies with capacities that impinge upon and can change primary institutions. Based on legal and constructivist ideas, it develops a theoretical model that sees primary and secondary institutions as shared understandings enmeshed in observable historical processes of constitution, reproduction and regulation.

Hedley Bull's The Anarchical Society was published in 1977. Forty years on, it is considered one of the classic texts in International Relations. It does not, however, address many world political issues that now concern us deeply, such as terrorism, global financial crises, climate change, the impact of the internet revolution, deep-rooted racial inequalities, and violence against women. Moreover, while the development of International Relations as an academic subject has consolidated the status of the 'English School' as one of the principal approaches to the study of world politics, and The Anarchical Society as its key text, significant limitations in Bull's approach have also been identified. This volume examines how far The Anarchical Society continues to illuminate world politics and how well Bull's method and argument stand up today. The volume argues that although many of Bull's substantive judgements require updating, his approach remains valuable, not only for thinking about enduring problems of violence and security, but also, as a starting point, for thinking about many issues that Bull himself neglected. However, the contributors also develop important criticisms of Bull's approach and identify ways in which it could be strengthened. A key insight is that although The Anarchical Society is famous for explicating the concept of 'international society', there is more to it than that. Indeed, the contemporary relevance of Bull's work is clearest when we recognize the often overlooked potential of his concept of the 'world political system', referring to the global network of interactions of which modern international society is only a part.

This study provides an analysis of the problem of international order in contemporary society and of the feasibility of such alternative models as disarmament, global organization, a highly proliferated world, and a radical redistribution of power.

The Anarchical Society is one of the masterworks of political science and the classic text on the nature of order in world politics. Originally published in 1977, it continues to define and shape the discipline of international relations. This edition has been updated with a new, interpretive foreword by Andrew Hurrell.

Following Bull's structure, it considers key concepts, major institutions and alternative approaches to order, and reasserts the enduring insight of Bull's work, whilst responding to major developments in the theory and practice in international relations.

This book traces the development of the international society tradition from its origins in Grotius’ On the Law of War and Peace to its crystallization in Bull’s The Anarchical Society. It follows the idea of sociability among peoples as it was presented by Grotius and substantiated by Pufendorf, through the skepticism of Voltaire and Kant, to emerge as humanitarian warfare and human rights in the international liberal movement, ‘world society’ in the 20th century Catholic revival, and common practices and social understandings in the English School in the period of disciplinary development in international relations after the Second World War.