International relations affects everyone's lives: their security, economic well-being, rights and freedoms, and the environment they share. This book explores international relations' central concerns with the changing way that political authority is organized globally, and provides the theoretical tools to understand the dynamics of the field.

• Acknowledgements


• List of abbreviations


• List of illustrations


• List of maps


• List of figures


• 1: What is international relations?


• 2: The global organization of political authority


• 3: Theory is your friend


• 4: War


• 5: Economy


• 6: Rights


• 7: Culture


• 8: Conclusion


• References


• Further reading


• Glossary


• Index

Christian Reus-Smit is Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. Among his previous books, he is the author of On Cultural Diversity (Cambridge University Press, 2018), Individual Rights and the Making of the International System (Cambridge University Press, 2013), American Power and World Order (Polity Press, 2004), and The Moral Purpose of the State (Princeton University Press, 1999).