Includes bibliographical references (p. [141]-149) and index.

Eras in world politics -- The domain of international relations -- Approaches to the study of international relations -- Defining the international -- Mapping the international -- Internationalizing the state system -- Globalizing the international -- Defining the state -- States and empires in the pre-modern world -- Political community and human nature -- The rise of modernity -- The sovereign state and state system -- The modern colonial empires -- Nationalism and the nation-state -- The first conflagration -- The liberal search for peace and security -- From 'peace in our time' to the return of total war -- Realism : telling it how it is -- Neoliberalism, Neorealism and Marxism -- The changing structure of world politics, 1945-1989 -- The end of the Cold War -- Methodology and scientific IR -- From the end of history to a new world order -- The clash of civilizations -- Ethnicity and the deadly politics of identity -- Culture and IR -- Culture and normative theory -- Realist perspectives on security -- The liberal security order -- Alternative approaches to security and insecurity -- The human security paradigm -- Humanitarian intervention -- Terrorism -- The idea of international society -- Global governance and the United Nations -- Global economic governance and the liberal order -- Global civil society and social movements -- Regionalization and world order -- A fragmenting world order? -- The postcolonial order -- The concept of globalization -- A brief history of globalization -- Globalization versus the state -- Culture and globalization -- Globalization, the state and normative theory -- Rethinking political community.