Re-imagining International Relations: World Orders in the Thought and Practice of Indian, Chinese and Islamic Civilizations

Abstract

Re-imagining International Relations’ slenderness relative to other tomes of international relations (IR), belies the breadth of its ambitions. In its own words, this book seeks to uncover “what IR theory might look like had it been developed within civilisations other than the West.” The bulk of the book is a narrative of the comparative history, sociology and belief systems of ancient China and India and the Islamic world. This culminates in an analysis of six aspects of international relations - hierarchy, power politics, peaceful co-existence, international political economy, territoriality and modes of thinking – as they would have emerged from each civilisation, had the West not assumed its dominance of the field.