Description: Natural scientists have joined forces to develop Earth System Science (ESS), a bold response to the mounting contradiction between the planet's limits and humanity's accelerating demands. However, interdisciplinary insights from social scientists are urgently needed to understand the various ways in which social and natural systems relate to each other, and to analyse the driving social forces within the anthroposphere. This timely volume is a rallying call for a 'World System Science' (WSS) in which social scientists and historians would step into this gap. International Relations experts draw from the fields of history, economics, and sociology to develop methodologies for a social science-led response to the political challenges of the Anthropocene. They identify areas of common ground where Earth System Science and World System Science might work together to generate and promote planetary stewardship, improving humanity's chances of surviving the Anthropocene crisis and looming tipping points in the earth system.
Brief description: Mathias Albert is Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University, Germany. He is the author of many books and articles including A Theory of World Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Review Quotes: 'The new circumstances of the Anthropocene and the severity of the global ecological crisis demand a comprehensive response from the social sciences. Here, drawing on a diverse range of contemporary scholarship in this carefully crafted volume, is a convincing proposal for a sophisticated world system science, one with the necessary scope and methodological rigour to accomplish this urgent albeit daunting task.' Simon Dalby, Professor Emeritus, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University