The Globalization of International Society

Abstract

Abstract This chapter lays the conceptual and theoretical foundations for the volume. It begins by examining four accounts of the globalization of international society. Of these, only Bull and Watson offer a robust account of how the social order of states became global. Yet despite this strength, this chapter moves beyond their approach by treating the development of international society as a process of globalization, not expansion; by adopting a more encompassing conception of its social foundations; by embedding the society of states within a broader world political system; by highlighting the crucial role of struggle and contestation; and by treating cultural diversity as an existential condition in which international society evolved. These revisions permit a more comprehensive understanding of the globalization of international society, and better accommodate the complex processes and dynamics associated with the global order today.

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