From International to World Society? English School Theory and the Social Structure of Globalisation

How is the concept of society understood on a global scale, since members are not individuals, but states, firms, NGOs and nations? Barry Buzan offers an original contribution to the "English School" theory. His study establishes a new theoretical framework emphasizing social structure that can be used to address globalization as complex political interplay among state and non-state actors.

In this 2004 book, Barry Buzan offers an extensive 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.

Introduction; 1. English school theory and its problems: an overview; 2. World society in English school theory; 3. Concepts of world society outside the English school; 4. Reimagining the English school's triad; 5. Reconstructing the pluralist-solidarist debate; 6. The primary institutions of international society; 7. Bringing geography back in; 8. Conclusions: a portrait of contemporary interstate society.

This 2004 book offers a contribution to the English school's tradition of thinking aout the idea of society on a global level. It sets out a theoretical framework emphasising social structure that can be used to address globalisation as a complex political interplay among state and non-state actors.

Barry Buzan is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and a Fellow of the British Academy. He is the author, co-author or editor of over fifteen books and has published widely in academic journals.