International Order in Diversity
War, Trade and Rule in the Indian Ocean

This book explains how a diverse Indian Ocean international system arose and endured during Europe's crucial opening stages of imperial expansion.

Andrew Phillips (Author), J. C. Sharman (Author)

9781107446823, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 April 2015

271 pages, 9 maps 2 tables
22.8 x 15.1 x 1.5 cm, 0.39 kg

'This is a remarkable book. In only about 250 pages it seeks to provide a new way of looking at how international relations should be taught. It is also, in international relations terms, seeking to bring the Indian Ocean in from the cold.' Keith Suter, Journal of the Indian Ocean Region

International relations scholars typically expect political communities to resemble one another the more they are exposed to pressures of war, economic competition and the spread of hegemonic legitimacy standards. However, historically it is heterogeneity, not homogeneity, that has most often defined international systems. Examining the Indian Ocean region - the centre of early modern globalization - Andrew Phillips and J. C. Sharman explain how diverse international systems can emerge and endure. Divergent preferences for terrestrial versus maritime conquest, congruent traditions of heteronomy and shared strategies of localization were factors which enabled diverse actors including the Portuguese Estado da India, Dutch and English company sovereigns and mighty Asian empires to co-exist for centuries without converging on a common institutional form. Debunking the presumed relationship between interaction and homogenization, this book radically revises conventional thinking on the evolution of international systems, while deepening our understanding of a historically crucial but critically understudied world region.

Introduction
1. The puzzle of durable diversity in international relations
2. The initial growth of diversity, 1500–1600
3. The expansion of diversity and competition under heteronomy, 1600–50
4. The stabilization of diversity, 1600–1750
5. Reconfiguring diversity in the age of empire, 1750–1900
Conclusion: order in diversity.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS]