Constructing Global Order
Agency and Change in World Politics

Examines how ideas of sovereignty and security from the non-Western world contribute to order and change in world politics.

Amitav Acharya (Author)

9781316621783, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 March 2018

224 pages, 5 b/w illus. 11 tables
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.2 cm, 0.34 kg

'… well-crafted book … the vast majority of publications this book draws on originates in the Western academy … he makes a serious effort in defining what exactly this term is about - conceptually and not in its often-normative usage. As most of Acharya's reasoning this is guided by a constructivist approach.' Ulf Engel, Connections

For a long time, international relations scholars have adopted a narrow view of what is global order, who are its makers and managers, and what means they employ to realize their goals. Amitav Acharya argues that the nature and scope of agency in the global order - who creates it and how - needs to be redefined and broadened. Order is built not by material power alone, but also by ideas and norms. While the West designed the post-war order, the non-Western countries were not passive. They contested and redefined Western ideas and norms, and contributed new ones of their own making. This book examines such acts of agency, especially the redefinitions of sovereignty and security, shaping contemporary world politics. With the decline of Western dominance, ideas and agency from the Rest may make it possible to imagine and build a truly global order.

1. Introduction: rethinking agency and change in global order
2. Theorizing normative change
3. Provincializing Westphalia
4. Transforming Westphalia
5. Redefining security
6. Regionalism and the making of global order
7. Conclusion and extensions.

Subject Areas: International institutions [JPSN], International relations [JPS], Social & political philosophy [HPS]