Making Global Society
A Study of Humankind Across Three Eras

Tracks the material and social conditions of humankind across history, explaining how global society evolved and what its prospects are.

Barry Buzan (Author)

9781009372183, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 August 2023

522 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.76 kg

'With characteristic ambition and erudition, Buzan tells the sweeping story of the rise and evolution of modern global society. Over the last two decades, Buzan has been a leading figure urging scholars of international relations to move beyond Western-centric approaches to forge a truly global discipline … The strength of Buzan's approach is its universality, weaving the complex evolution of modern society into a single story. He ominously speculates that today's cascading environmental crises could bring to an end modern civilization and the quest for human betterment.' G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

Barry Buzan proposes a new approach to making International Relations a truly global discipline that transcends both Eurocentrism and comparative civilisations. He narrates the story of humankind as a whole across three eras, using its material conditions and social structures to show how global society has evolved. Deploying the English School's idea of primary institutions and setting their story across three domains - interpolity, transnational and interhuman - this book conveys a living historical sense of the human story whilst avoiding the overabstraction of many social science grand theories. Buzan sharpens the familiar story of three main eras in human history with the novel idea that these eras are separated by turbulent periods of transition. This device enables a radical retelling of how modernity emerged from the late 18th century. He shows how the concept of 'global society' can build bridges connecting International Relations, Global Historical Sociology and Global/World History.

1. Introduction
Part I. Laying the Foundations for a Global Society: 2. Pre-prelude – the hunter-gatherer era
3. Prelude – the era of conglomerate agrarian/pastoralist empires 2310BC to 1800AD
Part II. The Transition to Modernity and the Making of Global Society: 4. Material conditions
5a. Social structure I – CAPE instructions carried forward into the transition
5b. Social structure II – institutions new with the transition
6. Where are we within the transition from CAPE to modernity
Part III. Deep Pluralism: More Transition or Modernity Proper?: 7. Material conditions
8. Social structure
Part IV. Conclusions: 9. Conclusions.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS]