Observing International Relations: Niklas Luhmann and World Politics (New International Relations) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415315387 ISBN 13: 9780415315388

Publisher: Routledge, 2003

Synopsis

Do theories of world society provide viable alternatives to the notion of an 'international system'? Observing International Relations draws upon the modern systems theory of society, developed by Niklas Luhmann, to provide new perspectives on central aspects of contemporary world society and to generate theoretically informed insights on the possibilities and limits of regulation in global governance. The authors develop a Luhmannian theory of world society by contrasting it with competing notions of international society, critically discussing the use of modern systems theory in international relations theory and assessing its treatment of central concepts within international relations, such as power, sovereignty, governance and war. The book will appeal to both sociologists and international relations specialists interested in the application of sociological theories to social contexts beyond the nation state. Mathias Albert, University of Bielefeld, Germany Lothar Brock, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Germany Chris Brown, London School of Economics, UK Thomas Diez,

About this title

About the Author:

Mathias Albert is Professor of Political Science at the University of Bielefeld where he is also a Co-Director of the Institute for Global Society Studies. His research interests include theories of world society, issues of regionalization, law-formation beyond the state, and contemporary youth studies.
Lena Hilkermeier is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Ruhr-University Bochum. Her research interests lie in the fields of organizational sociology, particularly in combination with theories of society, as well as in transnationalization studies.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0415315387
• ISBN 13: 9780415315388
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272
• Editor: Albert Mathias, Hilkermeier Lena