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  3. Systems, Relations, and the Structures of International Societies
  • Cited by 2
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
October 2023
Print publication year:
2023
Online ISBN:
9781009355193
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009355193
Series:
Cambridge Studies in International Relations
Subjects:
Philosophy of Social Science, Politics and International Relations, International Relations and International Organisations, Philosophy
Information

Book description

Inspired by recent work in evolutionary, developmental, and systems biology, Systems, Relations, and the Structures of International Societies sketches a robust conception of systems that grounds a new conception of levels (of organization, not merely analysis). Understanding international systems as multi-level multi-actor complex adaptive systems allows explanations of important features of the world that are inaccessible to dominant causal and rationalist explanatory strategies. It also develops a comprehensive critique of IR's dominant conception of systems and structures (narrow, rigid, and unfruitful); presents a novel conception of the interrelationship of the social production of continuities and the social production of change; and sketches models of spatio-political structure that cast new light on the development of international systems, including a distinctive account of the nature of globalization.

Reviews

‘In a world marked by cascades of ever more complex interdependence, Jack Donnelly persuasively argues that differentiation, not anarchy, should be central to understanding world order. This book is a masterpiece, melding theoretical innovation with broad historical scope.’

Daniel H. Deudney - Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University

‘At last: a book about international societies as a genus, a book that starts with wholes as parts of wholes, a book that makes sense of levels and layers, a book that fearlessly dispatches Waltz‘s structuralism for good. A relentlessly systematic, dauntingly detailed book for the ages.’

Nicholas Onuf - Professor Emeritus, Florida International University

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