Introduction

Abstract

This edited book reappraises Hedley Bull’s The Anarchical Society — one of the most important and enduring texts written in the last 50 years to theorize about the nature of international relations. It was first published in 1977 at a time when it seemed possible that the Cold War might give way to an era of détente. However, although tensions between the superpowers briefly eased at that time, it was still presupposed that bipolarity would persist as the dominant structural feature of world politics. In common with most international relations theorists, Bull failed to anticipate the end of the Cold War. Nevertheless, The Anarchical Society successfully transcends that specific period in history because of Bull’s insistence that any attempt to come to terms with world politics must accommodate the existence of an international society. Bull was not, of course, the first person to note that there is an important sociological dimension to world politics, but he is widely acknowledged as the key theorist who succeeded in getting the field to take this dimension on board, although it was nearly two decades before The Anarchical Society was generally accorded paradigmatic status.