Twentieth Century America in the Society of States

Cornelia Navari (BA Columbia; MSc Econ London; PhD Birmingham, UK) was Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham and Visiting Professor at the University of Buckingham, UK. She is the author of The International Society Tradition, From Hugo Grotius to Hedley Bull (2021); Public Intellectuals and International Affairs: Public Thinkers and Political Projects (2013); and Internationalism and the State in the 20th Century (2000). She has edited Nineteenth Century America in the Society of States with Yannis A. Stivachtis (2024) and International Organization in the Anarchical Society with Tonny Brems Knudsen (2019), among other edited volumes. She was named Distinguished Scholar by the English School Section of the International Studies Association in 2019.Yannis A. Stivachtis (BA, Graduate Certificate, Panteion University; MA, Ph.D., Lancaster University) is Professor of Government & International Affairs and Jean Monnet Chair at Virginia Tech and Director of Virginia Tech’s Center for European & Transatlantic Studies (CEUTS). His research and teaching interests include International Relations Theory (English School), the study of international society at the sub-global level (Europe, Eurasia, European Union, the Middle East, and the transatlantic community), the evolution of international society, and the study of world society. His publications include: Adam Watson and International Relations: A Contemporary Reassessment (2024; with Filippo Costa Buranelli); Nineteenth Century America in the Society of States (2024, with Cornelia Navari) and World Society in English School Theory (2018; editor).

"The twentieth century witnessed the United States’ rise to become the most powerful state in the world. It is not for nothing that Henry R. Luce dubbed it the American century. This volume brings together experts from the English School in an exploration of the many ways that the United States involved itself in the world during the last century. How America changed the world is matched by how this rise to global power also changed the United States. Theoretically grounded and empirically rich, we in International Relations are going to need more studies like this if we are going to unravel the complexities of the fast-evolving place of the United States in the twenty-first century."- Lucian M. Ashworth, Professor in Political Science, Memorial University, Canada."Navari and Stivachtis have assembled an impressive set of contributors wrestling with the tricky question of whether and to what extent the international order of the 20th century was a function of the power of the United States, rather than an evolution of international society as a whole. By disaggregating states into a variety of individuals and groups, and by focusing on the unplanned outcomes of a variety of initiatives, the chapters shed light on the complex configuration of global engagement and defensive autonomy that characterizes the United States’ role in the world, and the international arrangements that result from that complexity. Taken as a whole the chapters provide ample material for reflection on what might become of international society as the United States adopts a less supportive attitude towards the institutions it previously, if ambiguously and inconsistently, supported."- Patrick Thaddeus Jackson, Professor of International Studies and Chair of the Department of Global Inquiry, School of International Service, American University "The discussion about America’s role in the long twentieth century has for too long been dominated by either a realist focus on US power or a liberal preoccupation with economic interdependence as the most effective way of constructing order. In this entirely original study, the much under-appreciated ‘English School’ of International Relations plots a third way, suggesting that order is based not so much on the projection of power or economic cooperation, but through a set of complex institutional mechanisms and agreed rules. The key question the editors ask as we enter the third decade of the 21st century, is whether or not the United States is any longer willing or able to uphold the rules which hitherto have generated the order upon which international society depends – a suitable topic for a follow up volume?”- Michael Cox, Professor Emeritus of International Relations at the London School of Economics and a Founding Director of LSE IDEAS "This book is a welcome addition to its predecessor on the US and international society in the nineteenth century. Together, they fill a longstanding gap in the English School literature. Hopefully they will make thinking about international society both more accessible and more amenable to American audiences. This second volume suggests a third. The story there will be howTrump 2.0 pulled down the 20th c. Western liberal world order built by his predecessors, and facilitated its replacement by a polycentric one based on civilizationalism and far-right political values."- Barry Buzan, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the LSE (formerly Montague Burton Professor)

• 1. Theory and Practice in the Society of States: An Introduction by Yannis Stivachtis and Cornelia Navari 2. Between Neutrality and Collective Security by David Clinton 3. America and the Outlawry of War by Cornelia Navari 4. The United States and Non-Recognition of Forcible Territorial Acquisitions by Mikulas Fabry 5. America and Self-determination by Hussein Banai 6. The United States and the Four Freedoms by Andrew Williams 7. The United States and De-Colonisation by Jack Mellish 8. The United States and Democracy Promotion by Daniel Green 9 America and the Rogue State by Geoffrey Wiseman 10 The United States and International Criminal Justice by Matthew Weinert and Dennis Schmidt 11 The United States and the Balance of Power by Yannis Stivachtis