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Systems of States*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Adam Watson
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Extract

One aspect of international relations which interested Martin Wight particularly was the functioning of what are called systems of states. That has also been an area of my especial interest since the late 50s. It was the focus of the discussions of the British Committee on the Theory of International Politics. The committee was organized in the late fifties to bring, together people from different disciplines, practitioners as well as scholars. Herbert Butterfield and Martin were the founders and guiding spirits of the early years of the committee, and I was one of the original members. It was a collective enterprise: members submitted papers which left as questions those points on which the author did not feel certain of the answers. Martin told me that the most stimulating and interesting work he did during the 60s was writing papers for the committee and taking part in its discussions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , April 1990 , pp. 99 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1990

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References

1 Wight, Martin, Systems of States, edited by Bull, Hedley (Leicester, 1977), pp. 21–46.Google Scholar

2 Butterfield, Herbert and Wight, Martin (eds.) Diplomatic Investigations (London, 1966), pp. 17–24. The texts of the essays written for the Committee are available in the library of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, St James’s Square, London SW1.Google Scholar

3 Systems of States, p. 22.Google Scholar

4 d’Etat’, ‘Raison, Martin Wight Memorial Lecture by Sir Herbert Butterfield, University of Sussex, 1975.Google Scholar

5 Systems of States, pp. 23–24.Google Scholar

6 Systems of States, pp. 23–24.Google Scholar

7 Bull, Hedley, The Anarchical Society, (London, 1977), pp. 12–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

8 Systems of States, pp. 42–46.Google Scholar

9 Systems of States, p. 44.Google Scholar

10 Inis Claude, letter to the author, 1989.Google Scholar

11 Higgins, Rosalyn, ‘Intervention in International Law’, in Bull, Hedley (ed.), Intervention in World Politics (Oxford, 1984), p. 42.Google Scholar