English School
Encyclopedia
The English School of international relations theory
(sometimes also referred to as Liberal Realism, the International Society school or the British institutionalists) maintains that there is a 'society of states' at the international level, despite the condition of anarchy
(that is, the lack of a global ruler or world state). The English school stands for the conviction that ideas, rather than simply material capabilities, shape the conduct of international politics, and therefore deserve analysis and critique. It thus can be seen as a via media between realism and liberalism/cosmopolitanism but also has independent elements that clearly distinct it from these theories.
These rules are maintained by a set of institutions: war
, the great powers, diplomacy
, the balance of power
, and international law
, especially in the mutual recognition of sovereignty
by states. Since these rules are not legally binding and there is no ordering institutions, speaking of norms
would probably be more appropriate. States that respect these basic rules form an international society. Brown and Ainley therefore define the international society as a "norm-governed relationship whose members accept that they have at least limited responsibilities towards one another and the society as a whole". States thus follow their interests, but not at all costs.
There are differing accounts, within the school, concerning the evolution of those ideas, some (like Martin Wight
) arguing their origins can be found in the remnants of medieval conceptions of societas Christiana, and others such as Hedley Bull
, in the concerns of sovereign states to safeguard and promote basic goals, especially their survival. Most English School understandings of international society blend these two together, maintaining that the contemporary society of states is partly the product of a common civilization - the Christian world of medieval Europe, and before that, the Roman Empire - and partly that of a kind of Lockean
contract.
understanding of the world, the concept of world society takes the global population as a whole as basis for a global identity. However, Buzan also argued that the concept of World Society was the "Cinderella concept of English school theory", as it received almost no conceptual development.
did in his 1950s-era lectures at the London School of Economics
— into three divisions (called by Barry Buzan
as the English School's triad, based on Wight's three traditions):
In broad terms, the English School itself has supported the rationalist or Grotian tradition, seeking a middle way (or via media) between the 'power politics
' of realism and the 'utopianism' of revolutionism.
Later Wight changed his triad into a four part division by adding Mazzini
(see: Martin Wight, Four Seminal Thinkers in International Theory: Machiavelli, Grotius, Kant, and Mazzini).
The English School is largely a constructivist theory, emphasizing the non-deterministic nature of anarchy
in international affairs that also draws on functionalism
and realism.
There are, however, further divisions within the school. The most obvious is that between those who argue that the school's approach should be historical and normative (such as Robert Jackson or Tim Dunne) and those who think it can be methodologically 'pluralist', making use of 'positivist' approaches to the field (like Barry Buzan and Richard Little).
Contemporary English School writers draw from a variety of sources:
, the founding professor of the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics
. Others (especially Tim Dunne and Brunello Vigezzi) have located them in the work of the British committee on the theory of international politics
, a group created in 1959 under the chairmanship of the Cambridge historian Herbert Butterfield
, with financial aid from the Rockefeller Foundation. Both positions acknowledge the central role played by the theorists Martin Wight
, Hedley Bull
(an Australian teaching at the London School of Economics
) and John Vincent.
The name 'English School' was first coined by Roy Jones in an article published in the Review of International Studies in 1981, entitled "The English school - a case for closure". Some other descriptions - notably that of 'British institutionalists' (Hidemi Suganami) - have been suggested, but are not generally used. Throughout the development of the theory, the name became widely accepted, not least because it was developed almost exclusively at the London School of Economics, Cambridge and Oxford University.
International relations theory
International relations theory is the study of international relations from a theoretical perspective; it attempts to provide a conceptual framework upon which international relations can be analyzed. Ole Holsti describes international relations theories act as a pair of coloured sunglasses,...
(sometimes also referred to as Liberal Realism, the International Society school or the British institutionalists) maintains that there is a 'society of states' at the international level, despite the condition of anarchy
Anarchy in international relations
Anarchy in International Relations is a concept in International Relations theory holding that the world system is leaderless: there is no universal sovereign or worldwide government. There is thus no hierarchically superior, coercive power that can resolve disputes, enforce law, or order the...
(that is, the lack of a global ruler or world state). The English school stands for the conviction that ideas, rather than simply material capabilities, shape the conduct of international politics, and therefore deserve analysis and critique. It thus can be seen as a via media between realism and liberalism/cosmopolitanism but also has independent elements that clearly distinct it from these theories.
International System
The English school starts with the realist assumption of an international system that forms as soon as two or more states have a sufficient amount of interaction. It underlines the English school tradition of realism and Machtpolitik (power politics) and puts international anarchy at the centre of International Relations Theory.International Society
Hedley Bull, however, argued, that states share a certain common interest (usually the "fear of unrestricted violence") that lead to the development of a certain set of "rules". He thus defined the international system as- a group of states (or, more generally, a group of independent political communities) which not merely form a system, in the sense that the behaviour of each is a necessary factor in the calculations of the others, but also have established by dialogue and consent common rules and institutions for the conduct of their relations, and recognise their common interest in maintaining these arrangements.
These rules are maintained by a set of institutions: war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
, the great powers, diplomacy
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
, the balance of power
Balance of power in international relations
In international relations, a balance of power exists when there is parity or stability between competing forces. The concept describes a state of affairs in the international system and explains the behavior of states in that system...
, and international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
, especially in the mutual recognition of sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
by states. Since these rules are not legally binding and there is no ordering institutions, speaking of norms
Norm (philosophy)
Norms are concepts of practical import, oriented to effecting an action, rather than conceptual abstractions that describe, explain, and express. Normative sentences imply “ought-to” types of statements and assertions, in distinction to sentences that provide “is” types of statements and assertions...
would probably be more appropriate. States that respect these basic rules form an international society. Brown and Ainley therefore define the international society as a "norm-governed relationship whose members accept that they have at least limited responsibilities towards one another and the society as a whole". States thus follow their interests, but not at all costs.
There are differing accounts, within the school, concerning the evolution of those ideas, some (like Martin Wight
Martin Wight
Robert James Martin Wight , also known as Martin Wight, was one of the foremost British scholars of International Relations in the twentieth century...
) arguing their origins can be found in the remnants of medieval conceptions of societas Christiana, and others such as Hedley Bull
Hedley Bull
Hedley Bull, FBA was Professor of International Relations at the Australian National University, the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford until his death from cancer in 1985...
, in the concerns of sovereign states to safeguard and promote basic goals, especially their survival. Most English School understandings of international society blend these two together, maintaining that the contemporary society of states is partly the product of a common civilization - the Christian world of medieval Europe, and before that, the Roman Empire - and partly that of a kind of Lockean
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
contract.
World Society
Based on a KantianKANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
understanding of the world, the concept of world society takes the global population as a whole as basis for a global identity. However, Buzan also argued that the concept of World Society was the "Cinderella concept of English school theory", as it received almost no conceptual development.
Reexamination of traditional approaches
A great deal of the English School of thought concerns itself with the examination of traditional international theory, casting it — as Martin WightMartin Wight
Robert James Martin Wight , also known as Martin Wight, was one of the foremost British scholars of International Relations in the twentieth century...
did in his 1950s-era lectures at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
— into three divisions (called by Barry Buzan
Barry Buzan
Barry Gordon Buzan is Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and honorary professor at the University of Copenhagen and Jilin University...
as the English School's triad, based on Wight's three traditions):
- Realist (or Hobbesian, after Thomas HobbesThomas HobbesThomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...
) and thus the concept of international system - Rationalist (or Grotian, after Hugo GrotiusHugo GrotiusHugo Grotius , also known as Huig de Groot, Hugo Grocio or Hugo de Groot, was a jurist in the Dutch Republic. With Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili he laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law...
), representing the international society - Revolutionist (or Kantian, after Immanuel KantImmanuel KantImmanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
) representing world society.
In broad terms, the English School itself has supported the rationalist or Grotian tradition, seeking a middle way (or via media) between the 'power politics
Power politics
Power politics, or Machtpolitik , is a state of international relations in which sovereigns protect their own interests by threatening one another with military, economic, or political aggression...
' of realism and the 'utopianism' of revolutionism.
Later Wight changed his triad into a four part division by adding Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini , nicknamed Soul of Italy, was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century...
(see: Martin Wight, Four Seminal Thinkers in International Theory: Machiavelli, Grotius, Kant, and Mazzini).
The English School is largely a constructivist theory, emphasizing the non-deterministic nature of anarchy
Anarchy in international relations
Anarchy in International Relations is a concept in International Relations theory holding that the world system is leaderless: there is no universal sovereign or worldwide government. There is thus no hierarchically superior, coercive power that can resolve disputes, enforce law, or order the...
in international affairs that also draws on functionalism
Functionalism in international relations
Functionalism is a theory of international relations that arose during the inter-War period principally from the strong concern about the obsolescence of the State as a form of social organization...
and realism.
Internal divisions
The English School is often understood to be split into two main wings, named after two categories described by Hedley Bull:- The pluralists argue that the diversity of humankind - their differing political and religious views, ethnic and linguistic traditions, and so on - is best contained within a society that allows for the greatest possible independence for states, which can, in their forms of government, express those differing conceptions of the 'good life'. This position is expressed most forcefully by the Canadian academic Robert Jackson, especially in The Global Covenant (2001).
- The solidarists, by contrast, argue that the society of states should do more to promote the causes of human rights and, perhaps, emancipation - as opposed to the rights of states to political independence and non-intervention in their internal affairs. This position may be located in the work on humanitarian intervention by, amongst others, Nicholas Wheeler, in Saving Strangers (2000).
There are, however, further divisions within the school. The most obvious is that between those who argue that the school's approach should be historical and normative (such as Robert Jackson or Tim Dunne) and those who think it can be methodologically 'pluralist', making use of 'positivist' approaches to the field (like Barry Buzan and Richard Little).
Affinities to others
The English School does have affinities:- The pluralists have drawn from the classical 'political realism' of Hans MorgenthauHans MorgenthauHans Joachim Morgenthau was one of the leading twentieth-century figures in the study of international politics...
, George KennanGeorge F. KennanGeorge Frost Kennan was an American adviser, diplomat, political scientist and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War... - The pluralists have also been influence by the underpinnings of Reinhold NiebuhrReinhold NiebuhrKarl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...
's Christian RealismChristian RealismChristian Realism is a branch of philosophy developed by Reinhold Niebuhr in the late 1940s and early 1950s.Niebuhr argued that the kingdom of heaven can not be realized on Earth because of the innately corrupt tendencies of society...
. - The solidarist have drawn from realistRealism (arts)Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
writers, such as Stanley HoffmannStanley HoffmannStanley Hoffmann is the Paul and Catherine Buttenweiser University Professor at Harvard University.-Biography:A French citizen since 1947, Hoffmann spent his childhood between Paris and Nice before studying at the Institut d'études politiques...
.
Contemporary English School writers draw from a variety of sources:
- from structural 'neorealism' of Kenneth WaltzKenneth WaltzKenneth Neal Waltz is a member of the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University and one of the most prominent scholars of international relations alive today...
, in the case of Barry BuzanBarry BuzanBarry Gordon Buzan is Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and honorary professor at the University of Copenhagen and Jilin University...
; - from social constructivismConstructivism in international relationsIn the discipline of international relations, constructivism is the claim that significant aspects of international relations are historically and socially contingent, rather than inevitable consequences of human nature or other essential characteristics of world politics.-Development:Nicholas Onuf...
of Alexander WendtAlexander WendtAlexander Wendt is one of the core social constructivist scholars in the field of international relations. Wendt and scholars such as Nicholas Onuf, Peter J...
, in that of Tim DunneTim DunneTim Dunne is a British scholar of international relations. He was previously professor of International Relations and Head of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Exeter, UK. He has recently taken up a post as Research Director of the at the , Australia. As a theorist, Dunne has...
; - from 'critical theorists', in that of Andrew LinklaterAndrew LinklaterAndrew Linklater is a renowned international relations academic, and is the current Woodrow Wilson Professor of International Politics at Aberystwyth University...
; and - even from the 'post-structuralismPost-structuralismPost-structuralism is a label formulated by American academics to denote the heterogeneous works of a series of French intellectuals who came to international prominence in the 1960s and '70s...
' of Michel FoucaultMichel FoucaultMichel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
, in the case of James Der DerianJames Der DerianJames Der Derian is a Watson Institute research professor of international studies and professor of political science at Brown University. In July 2004, he became the director of the Institute’s Global Security Program...
.
History
The 'English-ness' of the school is questionable - many of its most prominent members are not English - and its intellectual origins are disputed. One view (that of Hidemi Suganami) is that its roots lie in the work of pioneering inter-war scholars like the South African Charles ManningCharles Manning
Charles Manning was a South African academic. He is considered to be a leading figure in the English School tradition of international relations scholarship....
, the founding professor of the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. Others (especially Tim Dunne and Brunello Vigezzi) have located them in the work of the British committee on the theory of international politics
British committee on the theory of international politics
The British Committee on the Theory of International Politics was a group of scholars created in 1959 under the chairmanship of the Cambridge historian Herbert Butterfield, with financial aid from the Rockefeller Foundation, that met periodically in Cambridge, Oxford, London and Brighton to discuss...
, a group created in 1959 under the chairmanship of the Cambridge historian Herbert Butterfield
Herbert Butterfield
Sir Herbert Butterfield was a British historian and philosopher of history who is remembered chiefly for two books—a short volume early in his career entitled The Whig Interpretation of History and his Origins of Modern Science...
, with financial aid from the Rockefeller Foundation. Both positions acknowledge the central role played by the theorists Martin Wight
Martin Wight
Robert James Martin Wight , also known as Martin Wight, was one of the foremost British scholars of International Relations in the twentieth century...
, Hedley Bull
Hedley Bull
Hedley Bull, FBA was Professor of International Relations at the Australian National University, the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford until his death from cancer in 1985...
(an Australian teaching at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
) and John Vincent.
The name 'English School' was first coined by Roy Jones in an article published in the Review of International Studies in 1981, entitled "The English school - a case for closure". Some other descriptions - notably that of 'British institutionalists' (Hidemi Suganami) - have been suggested, but are not generally used. Throughout the development of the theory, the name became widely accepted, not least because it was developed almost exclusively at the London School of Economics, Cambridge and Oxford University.
Key works
- Hedley Bull, The Anarchical SocietyThe Anarchical SocietyThe Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics is a 1977 book by Hedley Bull and a founding text of the so called English School of international relations theory...
(1977/1995). - Hedley Bull and Adam Watson (eds.), "The Expansion of International Society" (1984)
- Herbert Butterfield, Martin Wight (eds), Diplomatic Investigations (1966)
- Ian Clark, Legitimacy in International Society (2005)
- Martin Wight, Four Seminal Thinkers in International Theory : Machiavelli, Grotius, Kant, and Mazzini (2005)
- Martin Wight, Systems of States (1977)
- Martin Wight, Power Politics (1978)
- Martin Wight, International Theory (1991)
- Tim Dunne, Inventing International Society: A History of the English School (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998)
- Barry Buzan, "From International to World Society? : English School Theory and the Social Structure of Globalisation"
- Nicholas Wheeler, Saving Strangers (2000)
- Brunello Vigezzi, The British Committee on the Theory of International Politics (1954–1985): The Rediscovery of History (Milano: Edizioni Unicopli, 2005)
- Andrew Linklater and Hidemi Suganami, The English School of International Relations: A Contemporary Reassessment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 2006)
- Andrew Hurrell, On Global Order: Power, Values, and the Constitution of International Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007)
- Edward Keene, Beyond the Anarchical Society: Grotius, Colonialism and Order in World Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)
External Links
- Bibliography of the English School compiled by Barry BuzanBarry BuzanBarry Gordon Buzan is Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and honorary professor at the University of Copenhagen and Jilin University...
for the University of Leeds research project