Bringing together the latest scholarship from a global group of expert contributors, this guide offers a comprehensive examination of the English School approach to the study of international relations. 

• Explains the major ideas of the British Committee on International Relations, including the idea of and institutions connected to an international society, the emerging notion of world society, and order within international relations
• Describes the English School’s methods of analyzing themes, trends, and dilemmas
• Focuses on the historical and geographical expansion of international society, and particularly on the effects of colonization and imperialism
• Serves as an essential reference for students, researchers, and academics in international relations

New feature

Bringing together the latest scholarship from a global group of expert contributors, this guide offers a comprehensive examination of the English School approach to the study of international relations.

Beginning with the work of the British Committee on International Relations, the book covers all the major theoretical ideas of the English School and explains the concepts used for analyzing themes, trends, and dilemmas. It shows how the English School mapped out the development of working rules of a European international society that spread to the rest of the world through colonization and imperialism, and details a set of operating institutions, such as diplomacy, the balance of power, and international law. Throughout the book there is an emphasis on the historical and geographical expansion of international society. Insightful and rigorous, this volume demonstrates just what it is that sets the approach of the English School apart from others within international relations.

About the Contributors vii

Introduction to the English School in International Studies 1
Daniel M. Green

1 The Historical Development of the English School 7
Hidemi Suganami

2 The British Committee on the Theory of International Politics and Its Central Figures 25
Roger Epp

3 The British Committee and International Society: History and Theory 37
Brunello Vigezzi

4 The Historical Expansion of International Society 59
Barry Buzan and Richard Little

5 The English School and Institutions: British Institutionalists? 77
Laust Schouenborg

6 The International System – International Society Distinction 91
Tim Dunne and Richard Little

7 The Regional Dimension of International Society 109
Yannis A. Stivachtis

8 The International Society – World Society Distinction 127
John Williams

9 Order and Justice 143
Andrew Hurrell

10 The Pluralist–Solidarist Debate in the English School 159
William Bain

11 Three Traditions of International Theory 171
Edward Keene

12 Normative Theory in the English School 185
Molly Cochran

13 English School Methodology 205
Cornelia Navari

14 The Global Diffusion of the English School 223
Yongjin Zhang

Index 241