2. The global organization of political authority

‘The global organization of political authority’ examines such organization more closely, and provides a brief overview of some of the most prominent historical forms: heteronomy (think of feudal Europe), empire (from the Moghul to the British), and sovereignty (in today’s global system). It first emphasizes the nature and importance of institutions, understood broadly as formal or informal systems of rules, norms, and practices as they play a crucial role in organizing political authority. Second, it places today’s global system of sovereign states in a broader conceptual and historical framework, encouraging readers to see it as one crucially important, yet utterly unique, way of ordering social and political life.

5. Economy

‘Economy’ examines the relationship between economies and the organization of political authority, arguing that the two are mutually dependent. After considering three shifting conditions—changes in the global economy, revolutions in technology, and shifts in the global distribution of economic resources from the West to the East—it examines key developments in the organization of political authority, and how these have affected global economic relations. It concludes with a brief discussion of three major economic challenges facing the global organization of political authority: the rise of new economies and actors, inequality and social dislocation, and the accelerating global environmental crisis.

3. Theory is your friend

The global organization of political authority remains complex and shifting. We can ask any number of fascinating questions about this organization, from how and why it changes over time to its relationship with organized violence and inequalities of gender, race, or ethnicity. But how are we to answer them? One response would be to begin by looking at the relevant facts; but what facts should be included and excluded? ‘Theory is your friend’ argues that theory is essential to these tasks. It surveys six prominent theoretical perspectives on international relations: realism, liberalism, constructivism, the English School, feminism, and post-colonialism. All are centrally concerned with the global organization of political authority.

8. An essential political science

This Very Short Introduction argues that when seeking to understand international relations we should focus on the global organization of political authority, and on the human and environmental consequences of such organization. It provides an illuminating framework for understanding the nature, effects, and control of war; the relationship between politics and economics; the significance of human rights; and the impact of cultural difference. ‘An essential political science’ also proposes that such a focus helps us better understand many of today’s most pressing concerns as well. International relations has a special role addressing the macro-conditions—the global arrangements of legitimate political power—that condition politics in more local contexts.

6. Rights

‘Rights’ begins by explaining the centrality of rights to all configurations of political authority, the nature of individual rights (and in turn human rights), and the role individual rights play as ‘power-mediators’. The struggles for individual rights have reshaped the global organization of political authority in two crucial ways. First, over the course of five centuries, these struggles helped transform a world of empires into today’s global system of sovereign states. Second, in the latter phases of this process, struggles for human rights drove the codification of legally binding international human rights norms, effectively qualifying the rights—and thus political authority—of sovereign states.

4. War

Throughout history, war has had a profound effect on the structures and practices of political authority. ‘War’ explores the connections between war—purposive, organized violence—and the organization of political authority. It discusses how war shapes such organization: it was central to the emergence of sovereign states in Europe, and the international community has routinely used war to secure the existing system of states. War-making has also been a prime marker of political authority. Finally, war has been the principal object of authoritative control in international relations. Together, these connections have profoundly affected the global organization of political authority, and vice versa.

1. What is international relations?

International relations has traditionally focused on external relations between sovereign states. Yet not all important relations are between sovereign states and not all important politics is external. ‘What is international relations?’ explains that this VSI’s focus is on the global organization of political authority, and on the human and environmental consequences of such organization. This invites both analytical and ethical questions: how did political authority come to be organized in a particular way? How have large-scale ways of organizing political authority at times fostered human well-being, but also produced hierarchies and exclusions? What are the limits of sovereign authority, when should human rights be protected, and what obligations do we have to address the climate emergency?

7. Culture

The rise of non-Western great powers, especially China, raises important questions about how culture affects the global organization of political authority. While some predict that the modern international order will collapse as Western cultural influence wanes, others counter that liberal international institutions can accommodate states and peoples of diverse cultural complexions, ‘Culture’ presents a different view. Historically, all large-scale configurations of political authority have evolved in heterogeneous not homogeneous cultural contexts, and the form they have taken—the institutions they develop, the hierarchies they create, and the rights they distribute—have been deeply affected by the imperative to govern or rule this diversity.