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War and the turn to history in international relations

Bartelson, Jens LU (2021) p.127-137
Abstract

This chapter is an attempt to assess how the turn to history has affected the ways in which war is understood within the study of international relations. After briefly describing what has been at stake in the recent turn to history, the chapter explores how war has been conceptualized in some prominent works within historical international relations. I argue that three things have happened to the study of war. First, whereas the traditional study of international relations has been invested in identifying the proper causes of war, the historical reorientation has brought a focus on its effects. Second, whereas the study of historical sociology traditionally has explored the role of war in state-making, historical international... (More)

This chapter is an attempt to assess how the turn to history has affected the ways in which war is understood within the study of international relations. After briefly describing what has been at stake in the recent turn to history, the chapter explores how war has been conceptualized in some prominent works within historical international relations. I argue that three things have happened to the study of war. First, whereas the traditional study of international relations has been invested in identifying the proper causes of war, the historical reorientation has brought a focus on its effects. Second, whereas the study of historical sociology traditionally has explored the role of war in state-making, historical international relations has explored the role of war in the making of the international system as a whole. Finally, whereas the focus on the constitutive and transformative functions of war has been instrumental in resolving the tension between history and structure in the study of international relations, it runs the risk of making war look as inescapable source of change in world politics.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Routledge Handbook of Historical International Relations
pages
11 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85114925415
ISBN
9781351168960
9781351168953
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ffc6b5c0-1bd2-4a95-8e93-7e8980dd6f9c
date added to LUP
2021-10-11 14:12:42
date last changed
2024-04-20 12:48:32
@inbook{ffc6b5c0-1bd2-4a95-8e93-7e8980dd6f9c,
  abstract     = {{<p>This chapter is an attempt to assess how the turn to history has affected the ways in which war is understood within the study of international relations. After briefly describing what has been at stake in the recent turn to history, the chapter explores how war has been conceptualized in some prominent works within historical international relations. I argue that three things have happened to the study of war. First, whereas the traditional study of international relations has been invested in identifying the proper causes of war, the historical reorientation has brought a focus on its effects. Second, whereas the study of historical sociology traditionally has explored the role of war in state-making, historical international relations has explored the role of war in the making of the international system as a whole. Finally, whereas the focus on the constitutive and transformative functions of war has been instrumental in resolving the tension between history and structure in the study of international relations, it runs the risk of making war look as inescapable source of change in world politics.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bartelson, Jens}},
  booktitle    = {{Routledge Handbook of Historical International Relations}},
  isbn         = {{9781351168960}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  pages        = {{127--137}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  title        = {{War and the turn to history in international relations}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}