Theories of International Relations: Contending Approaches to World Politics by Stephanie Lawson

Author:Stephanie Lawson [Lawson, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780745695129
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2015-02-12T06:00:00+00:00

An overlap with the concerns of IR is evident in the set of issues with which historical sociology is primarily concerned. These are the emergence and development of modernity, which includes ‘epochal transitions’ such as the move from feudalism to capitalism, the rise of the modern sovereign state, and revolutionary movements such as the Reformation and the French Revolution, as well as broad-based social movements, including the labour movement (Delanty and Isin, 2003, p. 1). One prominent historical sociologist, Michael Mann, has focused on the ‘centrality of ferocious militarism to our own Western society’ (Mann, 1996, p. 221), which is of course squarely within the major purview of IR’s concern with war and peace.

Mann’s historical sociology rests on three general orienting principles, the first of which is that it is ‘resolutely empirical’ (1996, p. 221). The second is a conscious awareness of the variety of ways in which humans have organized themselves through time and space. This leads to a tendency to ‘relativise rather than reify social institutions’ and therefore to treat states, properly, as only one possible form of politico-military organization. Realists, Mann asserts, are especially prone to reifying modern states, ‘crediting them with a solidity, cohesion, autonomy and power in society that they rarely have’ (ibid., pp. 222–3). The third principle is an awareness of social and historical development over the long term, which in turn alerts us to changing social dynamics and their impact on war and peace – something which Mann acknowledges he shares in common with Wallerstein, although their approaches differ in other respects: Wallerstein accounts for the modern world system within the framework of a single driving logic; Mann in contrast identifies four intertwining logics – four ‘sources of social power’ – ideological, economic, political and military. All are essential to our understanding of the dynamics of states and state systems, the causes of war and the conditions for peace (ibid., pp. 222–4).

Andrew Linklater has joined in discussion of the links between historical sociology and IR, once again noting the dissatisfaction expressed by both historical sociologists and IR theorists of a critical persuasion with the realist assumption that the basic driving principles of relations between states have not changed over millennia (Linklater, 2011, p. 194). In relation to the contemporary period, Linklater also notes the importance of sociological contributions to the analysis of global political and economic structures, citing in particular the work of the sociologist Anthony Giddens (ibid.). The latter’s key contribution focuses on the nation-state and violence and the dynamics of power and domination in the capitalist world economy (Giddens, 1985, p. 335).

In summary, historical sociology as a methodological approach has proved attractive to IR scholars from a variety of perspectives, many of whom have followed Marxist (or post-Marxist) concerns with the transformation of human societies over the longer term. Its proponents regard it as particularly useful in illuminating the fact that, although many aspects of human society, including particular configurations of power and privilege, may appear to occur ‘naturally’, a deeper historical perspective shows just how malleable societies are.

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