Bringing Sociology to International Relations: World Politics as Differentiation Theory

Cambridge University Press, 10/3/2013
EAN 9781107039001, ISBN10: 1107039002

Hardcover, 292 pages, 23.1 x 15.5 x 2.3 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

Functional differentiation has long been at the heart of sociological thought, and as such has become a defining feature in the evolution of modern society; one which distinguishes it from pre-modern societies which have instead typically differentiated by means of segmentation, or stratified social systems such as class. Drawing on the latest developments on differentiation theory in international relations and sociology, this book brings together contributions from leading IR scholars and sociological theorists to offer a unique interdisciplinary synthesis in which contemporary world politics is discussed as a differentiated social realm. Bringing Sociology to International Relations is an illuminating and innovative new resource for scholars and students which strives to respond to a significant question across all its chapters: what happens when this well-established sociological theoretical framework is transposed from the domestic level, for which it was originally designed, to the larger and more complex subject of international relations?

1. Introduction
differentiation theory and international relations Mathias Albert, Barry Buzan and Michael Zürn
Part I. Sociological Perspectives
2. Rationalized cultural contexts of functional differentiation George M. Thomas
3. The history and systematics of functional differentiation in sociology Rudolf Stichweh
4. Functional, segmentary, and stratificatory differentiation of world society Richard Münch
Part II. On the Differentiated Structure of the International System
5. Differentiation
type and dimension approaches Jack Donnelly
6. Stratificatory differentiation as a constitutive principle of the international system Lora Anne Viola
7. Some quanta of solace
world politics in the era of functional differentiation Stephan Stetter
Part III. On the Interplay of (Global) Function Systems
8. Functional differentiation and the oughts and musts of international law Oliver Kessler and Friedrich Kratochwil
9. International institutions in a functionally differentiated world society Mathias Koenig-Archibugi
10. Functional differentiation, globalization and the new transnational neo-pluralism Philip G. Cerny
11. Conclusion
differentiation theory and world politics Michael Zürn, Barry Buzan and Mathias Albert.