Existing textbooks on international relations treat history in a cursory fashion and perpetuate a Euro-centric perspective. This textbook pioneers a new approach by historicizing the material traditionally taught in International Relations courses, and by explicitly focusing on non-European cases, debates and issues.
The volume is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on the international systems that traditionally existed in Europe, East Asia, pre-Columbian Central and South America, Africa and Polynesia. The second part discusses the ways in which these international systems were brought into contact with each other through the agency of Mongols in Central Asia, Arabs in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, Indic and Sinic societies in South East Asia, and the Europeans through their travels and colonial expansion. The concluding section concerns contemporary issues: the processes of decolonization, neo-colonialism and globalization – and their consequences on contemporary society.
History of International Relations provides a unique textbook for undergraduate and graduate students of international relations, and anybody interested in international relations theory, history, and contemporary politics.
Author(s): Erik RIngmar
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 218
Tags: history of international relations, world politics, world history, colonialism
Contents......Page 6
The Author......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 9
This book......Page 10
1. Introduction......Page 12
Comparative international systems......Page 13
Institutions, rules, and norms......Page 14
Stateless societies......Page 16
Walls and bridges......Page 17
Further reading......Page 21
Think about......Page 22
2. China and East Asia......Page 24
The Warring States period......Page 25
The development of the Chinese state......Page 30
The overland system......Page 41
The tribute system......Page 44
A Japanese international system?......Page 47
Further reading......Page 51
Timeline......Page 52
Short dictionary......Page 53
Think about......Page 54
3. India and Indianization......Page 56
Vedic India......Page 57
Classical India......Page 63
Indianization......Page 69
The Mughal Empire......Page 75
India as an international system......Page 78
Timeline......Page 80
Short dictionary......Page 81
Think about......Page 82
4. The Muslim Caliphates......Page 84
The Arab expansion......Page 85
The Umayyads and the Abbasids......Page 89
The Arabs in Spain......Page 92
An international system of caliphates......Page 97
The Ottoman Empire......Page 102
Further reading......Page 107
Timeline......Page 108
Short dictionary......Page 109
Think about......Page 110
5. The Mongol Khanates......Page 112
From Temüjin to Genghis Khan......Page 113
A nomadic state......Page 114
How to conquer the world......Page 117
Dividing it all up......Page 123
An international system of khanates......Page 127
Further reading......Page 133
Timeline......Page 134
Short dictionary......Page 135
Think about......Page 136
6. Africa......Page 138
The Nile River Valley......Page 140
North Africa......Page 142
The kingdoms of West Africa......Page 144
East Africa and the Indian Ocean......Page 150
An African international system?......Page 155
Further reading......Page 157
Timeline......Page 158
Short dictionary......Page 159
Think about......Page 160
7. The Americas......Page 162
The Maya......Page 163
The Aztecs......Page 171
The Incas......Page 174
North America......Page 181
Further reading......Page 185
Timeline......Page 186
Short dictionary......Page 187
Think about......Page 188
8. European Expansion......Page 190
A sea route to India......Page 191
Europeans in the “New World”......Page 193
A commercial world economy......Page 197
An industrial world economy......Page 200
The apotheosis of colonialism......Page 205
Decolonization......Page 208
Further reading......Page 211
Timeline......Page 212
Short dictionary......Page 213
Think about......Page 214
Afterthoughts: Walls and Bridges......Page 216
