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Basic problems in the theory of uneven and combined development. Part II: unevenness and political multiplicity

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 17:42 authored by Justin Rosenberg
Where does 'the international' come from? What accounts for its existence as a dimension of the human world? This article attempts an answer, in three steps, using the idea of 'uneven and combined development' (U&CD). First, a depth model is constructed, comparing different ways of linking uneven development with international relations. Thus far, it turns out, these ways have all presupposed the fact of political multiplicity, rather than explaining it. In search of explanation, the article turns, secondly, to the compelling historical sociological argument of Barry Buzan and Richard Little. This locates the origins of geopolitics in the late prehistoric shift from hunter-gatherer to settled agricultural existence, together with associated processes of social differentiation and proto-state formation. Buzan and Little's explanation appears at first to pre-empt the need for the concept of U&CD. Yet closer inspection reveals that unevenness and combination play a key role in their empirical account without, however, being theorized. The third step of the argument therefore seeks to show how these are necessary parts of the process of social change which Buzan and Little describe. And in this way it emerges that the origins of 'the international' do indeed lie in the uneven and combined character of historical development.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Cambridge Review of International Affairs

ISSN

0955-7571

Publisher

Routledge

Issue

1

Volume

23

Page range

165-189

Pages

25.0

Department affiliated with

  • International Relations Publications

Notes

Awarded ‘Best Work by an International Scholar’ by the American Sociology Association's Section on Global and Transnational Sociology, 2012.

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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