Hedley Bull Books
Hedley Bull was an influential international relations theorist whose work focused on the nature of world politics. In his seminal work, he argued that despite the anarchical character of the international arena, states form into a society. He contended that states, conscious of common interests and values, are bound by a shared set of rules and institutions. Bull examined mechanisms such as the balance of power, international law, and diplomacy as central to achieving order in world politics, concluding that the states system offers the best chance for this goal.
This book is the best guide to the complexities of intervention now available. The issues raised by it will remain important and divisive for some time.'___ The Times Literary Suplement.
In this, his most systematic and fundamental work, Hedley Bull explores three key questions: what is the nature of order in world politics?; how is it maintained in the contemporary state system?; and what alternative paths to world order are feasible and desirable? He argues that the system of sovereign states is not in decline and is not an obstacle to world order but its essential foundation. This third edition, marking the 25th anniversary of original publication, includes a substantial new foreword by Andrew Hurrell examining the continuing relevance of The Anarchical Society to subsequent developments in theory and in the structures and practices of world politics.
