Adam Watson, who died in 2007, was a former diplomat who in his later academic career became a pioneer of the discipline of international relations. Originally published in 1992, The Evolution of International Society made a major contribution to international theory and to our perception of how relations between states operate, and established Watson’s place within the canon. This acclaimed and uniquely comprehensive work explains how international societies function across time, starting by examining the ancient state systems before turning to look in detail at the current worldwide international society. The book demonstrates that relations between states are not normally anarchic, but are in fact organized and regulated by elaborate rules and practices. In this timely reissue, a new introduction by Barry Buzan and Richard Little assesses Adam Watson's career as a diplomat and examines how his work as a practitioner shaped his subsequent thinking about the nature of international society. It then contextualises Watson's original work, situates it alongside current work in the area and identifies the originality of Watson's key arguments, helping us to understand Watson’s place within the canon.
Author(s): Adam Watson
Edition: 2
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 302
Dedication
Contents
Introduction to the 2009 reissue • Barry Buzan and Richard Little
Introduction
1. Scope and definitions
The ancient states systems
Preface
2. Sumer: the original states system
3. Assyria: the first near eastern empire
4. Persia: imperial moderation
5. Classical Greece: independence and hegemony
6. The Macedonian system: hellenization of the Persian system
7. India: multiple independences and the Mauryan Empire
8. China: hegemony, warring states and empire
9. Rome: the final classical imperial synthesis
10. The Byzantine Oikumene
11. The Islamic system: adaptation of many traditions
12. The ancient states systems: some theoretical implications
The European international society
Preface
13. Medieval Europe: the originality of Latin Christendom
14. The Renaissance in Italy: the stato
15. The Renaissance in Europe: the stato outside Italy
16. The Habsburg bid for hegemony
17. Westphalia: an anti-hegemonial commonwealth of states
18. The age of reason and of balance
19. European expansion: overseas and overland
20. The Napoleonic Empire
21. Collective hegemony: the nineteenth-century Concert of Europe
Summary
The global international society
22. The European system becomes worldwide
23. The collapse of European domination
24. The age of the superpowers and decolonization
25. The contemporary international society: heir to the past
Conclusion
Epilogue: Some indications for the future
Bibliography
Index
Important terms and concepts
Important names and places
