Diplomatic Investigations

Sir Herbert Butterfield FBA was Regius Professor of History and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. As a British historian and philosopher of history, his works include: The Whig Interpretation of History (1931) and Origins of Modern Science (1949). His main interests were historiography, the history of science, 18th century constitutional history, Christianity, History, and International Politics.Martin Wight was one of the most important British scholars on International Relations of the 20th century. He was Dean of the School of European Studies and a Professor of History the London School of Economics and the University of Sussex, where he served as the founding Dean of European Studies. Wight is often associated with the British committee on the theory of international politics and the so-called English School of International Relations.Tim Dunne is Pro-Vice Chancellor at The University of Queensland, where he is also Professor of International Relations. He took up this role after a four-year term at the as the inaugural Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He has written and edited twelve books, including Inventing International Society: A History of the English School (1998); The Oxford Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect (co-edited with Alex J. Bellamy, 2016); The Globalization of International Society (co-edited with Christian Reus-Smit in 2017). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Australia. Ian Hall is a Professor in the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. He is also a member of the Griffith Asia Institute and an academic fellow of the Australia India Institute. He has written or edited six books, including Dilemmas of Decline: British Intellectuals and World Politics, 1945-1975 (2012) and The International Thought of Martin Wight (2006).

More relevant now than when it was first published, the essays resonate against the historical turn, the practice turn, and the agent-structure conundrum. Diplomatic Investigations has seen off systems theory, decision-making analysis, and rational choice and is the foundation of contemporary international political theory. Hall and Dunne conduct a notable tour d'horizon of the essays.

• Introduction Preface 1: M. WIGHT: Why is there no International Theory? 2: H. BULL: Society and Anarchy in International Relations 3: H. BULL: The Grotian Conception of International Society 4: D. MACKINNON: Natural Law 5: M. WIGHT: Western Values in International Relations 6: H. BUTTERFIELD: The Balance of Power 7: M. WIGHT: The Balance of Power 8: G. F. HUDSON: Collective Security and Millitary Alliances 9: H. BUTTERFIELD: The New Diplomacy and Historical Diplomacy 10: M. HOWARD: War as an Instrument of Policy 11: G. F. HUDSON: Threats of Force in International Relations 12: M. HOWARD: Problems of a Disarmed World