This book brings together thirteen of Nicholas Onuf’s previously published yet rarely cited essays. They address topics that Onuf has puzzled over for decades, including the problem of materiality in social construction, epochal change in the modern world, and the power of language.

This book provides a major review of the state of international theory. It is focused around the issue of whether the positivist phase of international theory is now over, or whether the subject remains mainly positivistic. Leading scholars analyse the traditional theoretical approaches in the discipline, then examine the issues and groups which are marginalised by mainstream theory, before turning to four important new developments in international theory (historical sociology, post-structuralism, feminism, and critical theory). The book concludes with five chapters which look at the future of the subject and the practice of international relations. This survey brings together key figures who have made leading contributions to the development of mainstream and alternative theory, and will be a valuable text for both students and scholars of international relations.

Critical international theory has the task of providing orientation to human beings in better understanding their conditions of existence, how those conditions came to assume their contemporary characteristics, and what immanent potential they might hold for emancipatory transformation. The argument in this book is that this task of orientation is indissociable from a reliance on grand narratives that capture the main features of the long-term process of human development. And yet, many of these grand narratives also tend to reproduce Eurocentric worldviews that undermine critical international theory’s reliability as a means of orientation. In this book, André Saramago provides an innovative answer to the problem of orientation with which critical international theory is confronted. Through an indepth engagement with the work of Jürgen Habermas, Karl Marx, and Norbert Elias, he recovers a historical-sociological approach to grand narratives that avoids a reproduction of their Eurocentric shortcomings. In the process, he improves critical international theory’s role as a means of orientation by making it better theoretically equipped to capture the interweaving of the historical development of the human capacity for self-determination in the four key dimensions of human existence: people’s relations with themselves as individuals; social relations at both the intra- and inter-societal levels; and people’s relations with non-human nature. This book will appeal to all students and researchers interested in interdisciplinary and critical approaches to the study of world politics, long-term processes of social change, and human-nature relations, working within or across the fields of International Relations, Sociology, Political Theory, and related areas of inquiry.

Law is often perceived as an instrument that can effect social change. While this might be so, it must be complemented by the necessary financial and human resources to make the law effective. Natalie Persadie explains that, among developing countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago, the achievement of legal advances for women--at either the international or national levels--is particularly difficult where practical measures are not subsequently implemented. This is, perhaps, attributable to a lack of political will. Important issues such as gender equality and domestic violence are not given priority and laws aimed at protecting women and promoting women's rights are ineffective, scant, or unenforced. Gender justice can only be realized through a multilevel approach from above and, more importantly, from below, as women have the potential to effect real national and international legal and institutional change to ensure gender equality at both levels.

Drawing together international experts on research methods in International Relations (IR), this Handbook answers the complex practical questions for those approaching a new research topic for the first time. Innovative in its approach, it considers the art of IR research as well as the science, offering diverse perspectives on current research methods and emerging developments in the field.

International Relations tends to rely on concepts that developed on the European continent, obscuring the fact that its history is far less ‘international’ than one might expect. But in today’s global world, who does this ignore and marginalize? And what impact does that have on the discipline’s potential to assess world politics? This book explores an Islamic approach to the ‘international’, showing that Islam can contribute keen insights into how we ‘do’ IR, and how we might change that practice to be more inclusive, while also highlighting the limits of an ‘Islamic International Relations’. Exploring conceptualizations of community and difference in Islamic traditions, the book relates these notions to concepts that are considered universal in IR, such as state-based politics and the necessity for secularism. In this way, the book shows how the study of political Islam might help to interrogate and redefine key concepts within international politics. In a world of continuing polarization between ‘Islam’ and ‘the West’, this book offers IR a chance to engage in a constructive dialogue with Islamic traditions, in order to better understand global politics.

This handbook presents a comprehensive, concise and accessible overview of the field of Historical International Relations (HIR). It summarizes and synthesizes existing contributions to the field while presenting central themes, approaches and methodologies that have driven the development of HIR, providing the reader with a sense of the diversity and research dynamics that are at the heart of this field of study. The wide range of topics covered are grouped under the following headings: Traditions: Demonstrates the wide variety of approaches to HIR. Thinking International Relations Historically: Different ways of thinking IR historically share some common concerns and areas for further investigation. Actors, Processes and Institutions: Explores the processes, actors, practices, and institutions that constitute the core objects of study of many HIR scholars. Situating Historical International Relations: Critically reflects about the situatedness of our objects of study. Approaches: Examines how HIR scholars conduct and reflect about their research, often in dialogue with a variety of perspectives from cognate disciplines. Summarizing key contributions and trends while also sketching out challenges for future inquiry, this is an invaluable resource for students, academics and researchers from a range of disciplines, particularly International Relations, global history, political science, history, sociology, anthropology, peace studies, diplomatic studies, security studies, international political thought, political geography, international law.