This book builds upon an inter-disciplinary body of literature to detail the centrality of European colonialism and imperialism in the constitution of modern international relations. A critical historical analysis that challenges conventional assumptions about the evolution and expansion of international society, it addresses the interconnections between the European and non-European sides of that history. Pearcey argues that features of European expansion were guided by a discourse on civilization, one that subsumed the uncivilized Other within the boundaries of the civilized Self. Doing so, civilization enabled a process of “exclusion by inclusion”, whereby many of the world’s indigenous peoples were gradually excluded from the “international” by being subsumed within the “domestic.” Challenging conventional assumptions about the evolution and expansion of international society, especially those of the English School, this book contributes to central debates in International Relations theory.
This book builds upon an inter-disciplinary body of literature to detail the centrality of European colonialism and imperialism in the constitution of modern international relations. A critical historical analysis that challenges conventional assumptions about the evolution and expansion of international society, it addresses the interconnections between the European and non-European sides of that history. Pearcey argues that features of European expansion were guided by a discourse on civilization, one that subsumed the uncivilized Other within the boundaries of the civilized Self. Doing so, civilization enabled a process of “exclusion by inclusion”, whereby many of the world’s indigenous peoples were gradually excluded from the “international” by being subsumed within the “domestic.” Challenging conventional assumptions about the evolution and expansion of international society, especially those of the English School, this book contributes to central debates in International Relations theory.
Provides a critical historical analysis of a European discourse on civilization and its role in shaping the relations between indigenous peoples and international society Enters the English School into dialogue with postcolonial theory to advance the literature on the evolution and expansion of international society Generates fresh insight into the discursive, and historical constitution of contemporary international relations
Mark Pearcey
International Relations Theory English School International Society Expansion Thesis Indigenous Peoples