The Idea of Civilization and the Making of the Global Order
By Andrew Linklater
ISBN
978-1529213911Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressISBN
978-1529213874Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressISBN
978-1529213881Imprint
Bristol University PressISBN
978-1529213881Imprint
Bristol University Press
The Idea of Civilization and the Making of the Global Order
The idea of civilization recurs frequently in reflections on international politics. However, International Relations academic writings on civilization have failed to acknowledge the major 20th-century analysis that examined the processes through which Europeans came to regard themselves as uniquely civilized – Norbert Elias’s On the Process of Civilization.
This book provides a comprehensive exploration of the significance of Elias’s reflections on civilization for International Relations. It explains the working principles of an Eliasian, or process-sociological, approach to civilization and the global order and demonstrates how the interdependencies between state-formation, colonialism and an emergent international society shaped the European 'civilizing process'.
“With its process-thinking and humanistic commitment, this brilliant book provides an inspiring Eliasian alternative to the essentialist understanding of civilization, globalization and world politics.” Yaqing Qin, China Foreign Affairs University
"In this magisterial work on the making of the global order, Andrew Linklater builds on Elias to rescue the concept of civilization from the disrepute into which it has fallen. A masterpiece.” Giorgio Shani, International Christian University
“A timely, lucid and thoughtful reassessment of Elias’s work and the relevance of its approach to our inquiries into some of the most pressing problems confronting humanity today.” Eduardo Posada-Carbó, University of Oxford
“An original and groundbreaking approach to the status of civilizations in international relations. No previous work has applied Norbert Elias’s historical sociology of civilization to our understanding of culture and conflicts.” Jocelyne Cesari, University of Birmingham and Georgetown University
“A brilliant and original introduction to ‘civilization and global order’, which bridges International Relations and Eliasian process sociology while advancing postcolonial themes that will fascinate a broad church of readers.” John M. Hobson, University of Sheffield
Andrew Linklater is Woodrow Wilson Professor of International Politics at Aberystwyth University.
Introduction: A Process-Sociological Approach to Understanding Civilization
The Return of Discourses of Civilization and Barbarism
Elias’s Explanation of the European Civilizing Process
The Nation-State, War and Human Equality
The Classical European ‘Standard of Civilization’
Civilization, Diplomacy and the Enlargement of International Society
Standards of Civilization in the Post-European Global Order
Civilizing Processes at the Level of Humanity as a Whole
Summary and Conclusions
