Description: Taking an inter-disciplinary approach, Spruyt explains the political organization of three non-European international societies from early modernity to the late nineteenth century. The Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires; the Sinocentric tributary system; and the Southeast Asian galactic empires, all which differed in key respects from the modern Westphalian state system. In each of these societies, collective beliefs were critical in structuring domestic orders and relations with other polities. These multi-ethnic empires allowed for greater accommodation and heterogeneity in comparison to the homogeneity that is demanded by the modern nation-state. Furthermore, Spruyt examines the encounter between these non-European systems and the West. Contrary to unidirectional descriptions of the encounter, these non-Westphalian polities creatively adapted to Western principles of organization and international conduct. By illuminating the encounter of the West and these Eurasian polities, this book serves to question the popular wisdom of modernity, wherein the Western nation-state is perceived as the desired norm, to be replicated in other polities.
Brief description: Hendrik Spruyt is Norman Dwight Harris Professor of International Relations at Northwestern University, Illinois. Among his publications are: The Sovereign State and Its Competitors (1994), winner of the J. David Greenstone Award; Ending Empire: Contested Sovereignty and Territorial Partition (2005); and, with Alexander Cooley, Contracting States: Sovereign Transfers in International Relations (2009).
Review Quotes: 'The World Imagined is a path-breaking book of immense stature. It opens with a highly sophisticated tour d'horizon of the fields of anthropology, history, IR and sociology. Through this inter-discipliary dialogue, Spruyt builds a persuasive case for why we need a deeply interpretive approach to understanding historic international societies. He then provides the pay-off with three detailed studies of non-western international societies (East Asian tributary system; Southeast Asian kingdoms; Islamic empires): in each case, shared beliefs about authority and legitimacy defined the membership of the society and inscribed its boundaries. A worthy successor to Spruyt's earlier, and equally brilliant book, The Sovereign State and its Competitors.' Tim Dunne, Professor of International Relations and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, The University of Queensland