The Making of the Modern World

This is a chapter I wrote for a book, International Relations: A Beginner's Guide, edited by Stephen McGlinchey and forthcoming with E-International Relations Publishing in January 2017. It is my attempt to describe the origin of the state, and the European interstate system, as they came to develop from the Middle Ages onwards, and also to say something about how the European system spread to the rest of the world. It is very much an entry-level chapter, intended for first-year undergraduates. Yes, it is an example of the future of academic publishing — open source, open access, no profit, etc. This is the final, published, version. Please cite as:Ringmar, Erik. “The Making of the Modern World,” International Relations: A Beginner's Guide, edited by Stephen McGlinchey, E-International Relations Publishing, 2017

Comments on McCloskey and Weingast

Economic growth is an aspect of social change which cannot be explained by economic theory alone. McCloskey invokes ‘ideas’ but ideas only matter as embodied in institutions. Weingast makes this points but his institutions are too economistic. Only institutionalised self-emergence can explain massive, relentless and automatic change

The Great Wall of China does not exist

Walls are distinct, man-made features of an environment, and to the extent that they block our way or our vision they are impossible to ignore. As such they arc inherently in need of an explanation. Yet walls can be built with many purposes in mind and serve several functions, and functions, moreover, are likely to vary over time. A tall, solid wall appears impassable in its concrete concreteness, yet walls, no matter how high, are never actually all that daunting. If we keep on moving, keep on exploring, we will sooner or later find a way around, across or under them; a gate wi 11 be found ajar, a tower unmanned or a guard who can be bribed (Lattimore 1962b: 486). Walls in the end are nothing in themselves and only something as a part of a tactic, but tactics often change - for technological, political or cultural reasons and the walls, as a result, will be rendered obsolete and useless. Walls are not final conclusions as much as temporary statements awaiting refutation. As a result, walls will tell us a lot about the outlook of the societies that built them. Walls tell stories about presumptions and premonitions, fears and ambitions; about who we take ourselves to be and how we relate to others. Yet as far as storytellers go, they are annoyingly silent. Walls cannot talk; they stonewall us; and it does not help if we plead with, or wail before, them.WOS:00047428040000

History of International Relations

"Existing textbooks on international relations treat history in a cursory fashion and perpetuate a Euro-centric perspective. This textbook pioneers a new approach by historicizing the material traditionally taught in International Relations courses, and by explicitly focusing on non-European cases, debates and issues. The volume is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on the international systems that traditionally existed in Europe, East Asia, pre-Columbian Central and South America, Africa and Polynesia. The second part discusses the ways in which these international systems were brought into contact with each other through the agency of Mongols in Central Asia, Arabs in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, Indic and Sinic societies in South East Asia, and the Europeans through their travels and colonial expansion. The concluding section concerns contemporary issues: the processes of decolonization, neo-colonialism and globalization – and their consequences on contemporary society. History of International Relations provides a unique textbook for undergraduate and graduate students of international relations, and anybody interested in international relations theory, history, and contemporary politics.

Anmälan av Émile Zola, Jag anklagar.

This is a review, in Swedish, of the republication, also in Swedish, of Zola's famous tract