International Institutions in World History

The discipline of IR has always suffered from a parochial occupation with the state and the Western system of states. This book presents a case for a basic reorientation of IR away from the state and towards the study of social institutions in the sense of patterned practices, ideas and norms/rules. The argument is that the state is an inherently modern phenomenon, a modern social institution, and that foundational concepts in IR should be based on a full appreciation of the wider record of human existence on earth, trans-historically and cross-culturally. This book will interest scholars and students within IR (particularly IR theory), anthropology, archaeology and sociology.