Constructing Global Order
Constructing Global Order
For a long time, international relations scholars have adopted a narrow view of what is global order, who are its makers and managers, and what means they employ to realize their goals. Amitav Acharya argues that the nature and scope of agency in the global order - who creates it and how - needs to be redefined and broadened. Order is built not by material power alone, but also by ideas and norms. While the West designed the post-war order, the non-Western countries were not passive. They contested and redefined Western ideas and norms, and contributed new ones of their own making. This book examines such acts of agency, especially the redefinitions of sovereignty and security, shaping contemporary world politics. With the decline of Western dominance, ideas and agency from the Rest may make it possible to imagine and build a truly global order.
- Develops a broader framework for studying change and transformation in world politics, allowing the rapid changes in sovereignty and security to be understood clearly
- Offers new concepts and research avenues to study norm diffusion 'from below' in contrast to the existing focus on top-down approaches to security and order building
- Reveals the role of non-Western actors in the origins of new ideas such as humanitarian intervention, human security and multiple pathways to regional cooperation
Reviews & endorsements
‘Amitav Acharya insists that global order constructions can be successful in a challenged world. But they must accept a past and a future marked by enduring contestations over an inescapably pluralist world. This gem of a book makes international relations theory speak directly to world politics.' Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University, New York
'… well-crafted book … the vast majority of publications this book draws on originates in the Western academy … he makes a serious effort in defining what exactly this term is about - conceptually and not in its often-normative usage. As most of Acharya’s reasoning this is guided by a constructivist approach.' Ulf Engel, Connections
Product details
April 2018Hardback
9781107170711
224 pages
235 × 157 × 16 mm
0.45kg
5 b/w illus. 11 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction: rethinking agency and change in global order
- 2. Theorizing normative change
- 3. Provincializing Westphalia
- 4. Transforming Westphalia
- 5. Redefining security
- 6. Regionalism and the making of global order
- 7. Conclusion and extensions.
