George Lawson
IR100 - The structure of international society: the
emergence of international society (week 2)
Lecture slides
Original citation:
Lawson, G. (2012) IR100 - The structure of international society: the emergence of international society
(week 2). [Teaching Resource]
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IR100 Lecture 2 2011-12
George Lawson
IR – The Traditional Agenda
 Inter vs. intra
 National vs. state
 … and relations
Leading to …
an anarchical system in which sovereign states follow
their national interests
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IR – A New Agenda
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The world market: trade, finance, labour
International organisations: EU, IMF, UN
Migration: look around the room!
Ideas: democracy, revolution, communism, feminism,
nationalism, Islamism, racism
 New forms of communication: social media, the internet, email,
mobiles
 New security issues: HIV/Avian Flu/environmental degradation,
human security
 Global (un)civil society:
 movements against war or world poverty (Jubilee 2000)
 lobbyists on particular issues (Amnesty, Greenpeace, MSF)
 far right groups and football hooligans
IR as a polo mint?
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Huh?
 the world market: US R&D, Chinese production, global
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consumers
sovereignty: big companies vs. states
changing forms of communication, social media etc.
ideas/brands across borders
and more …
So maybe Steve Jobs does have something to do with IR
after all …
Essential Readings 1
 Hobson et al: the big bangs
 1648? Cuius regio, eius religio = tolerance, sovereign
territoriality, non-intervention. But:
 A local affair
 Empire remains central
 Cuius regio, eius religio?
Neither sovereignty nor non-intervention are even
mentioned in the treaties.
Essential Readings 2
 Schmidt and Cox: 1919?
 US pluralism
 19th century ideas and debates
 Global modernity
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The Roots of IR
 Political theory: Hobbes, Kant, Machiavelli.
 International Law: Grotius, Suarez, Vattel, Gentili,
Pufendorf.
 History and historians: Thucydides, Sun Tzu, Ibn
Khaldun.
 Practitioners: Bismarck, Clausewitz, etc.
The Roots of ir
 Beyond the “Westphalian straitjacket”, ahistoricism
and Harry Potter’s scar
 The first international societies, e.g. Sumer
 The Great Transformation: industrialization, the
modern state and ideologies of progress
So, the key point … interconnections between ‘inside’
and ‘outside’, ‘domestic’ and ‘international’, drive
historical development.
Beyond Westphalia and Washington
 When: Sumer vs. Westphalia vs. the Great
Transformation
 Where: IR, US power and Western-centrism
 The contemporary world?
 Power shifts:
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From the Atlantic to the Pacific
From transatlantia to Asia
Rising powers
To be continued …