This handbook presents a comprehensive, concise and accessible overview of the field of Historical International Relations (HIR). It summarizes existing contributions and central themes, approaches and methodologies that have driven the development of HIR, providing a sense of the diversity and research dynamics in the field.

Benjamin de Carvalho is a Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) in Oslo.

Julia Costa Lopez is a Senior Lecturer in History and Theory of International Relations at the University of Groningen.

Halvard Leira is a Research Professor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) in Oslo.

1 Introduction: Historical International Relations Part I. Traditions 2 Theories and Philosophies of History in International Relations 3 The English School and Historical International Relations 4 World-Systems Analysis: Past Trajectories and Future Prospects 5 Historical Sociology in International Relations: The Challenge of the Global 6 Liberalism between Theory and Practice 7 Realism: Excavating a Historical Tradition 8 Constructivism: History and Systemic Change 9 Poststructuralism and the Challenge of History 10 International Political Thought and Historical International Relations Part II. Thinking International Relations Historically 11 Disciplinary Traditions and Debates: The Subject Matters of International Thought 12 War and the Turn to History in International Relations 13 Capitalism and 'the International': A Historical Approach 14 Gender in Historical International Relations 15 Eurocentrism and Civilization 16 Disciplinary Histories of Non-Anglophone International Relations: Latin America and the Caribbean 17 Premodern Asia and International Relations Theory 18 Race and Historical International Relations 19 Political Theology and Historical International Relations 20 Time and History in International Relations Part III. Actors, Processes and Institutions 21 Sovereignty in Historical International Relations: Trajectories, Challenges, and Implications 22 State Formation and Historical International Relations 23 Nations and Nationalism in International Relations 24 States, People and Self-Determination in Historical Perspective 25 Borders and Boundaries: Making Visible What Divides 26 Reason of State: An Intellectual History 27 Balance of Power: A Key Concept in Historical Perspective 28 Diplomacy: The World of States and Beyond 29 Insurance, Trade and War 30 International Law and the Laws of War 31 International Organisations in Historical Perspective 32 Revolutions: Integrating the International 33 Imperialism: Beyond the 'Re-turn to Empire' in International Relations 34 Decolonization and the Erosion of the Imperial Idea 35 Understanding the Postcolonial Cold War Part IV. Situating Historical IR 36 Ancient Greece: War, Peace and Diplomacy in Antiquity 37 Rome: Republic, Monarchy and Empire 38 International Relations in/and the Middle Ages 39 Early (Modern) Empires: The Political Ideology of Conceptual Domination 40 Europe in Historical International Relations 41 Africa and International History 42 International Order in East Asia 43 Linking up the Ottoman Empire with IR's Timeline 44 Latin America: Between Liminality and Agency in Historical International Relations Part V. Approaches 45 International Relations in the Archive: Uses of Sources and Historiography 46 History and Memory: Narratives, Micropolitics and Crises 47 How to Do the History of International Thought? 48 Global Histories: Connections and Circulations in Historical International Relations 49 Historical Practices: Recovering a Durkheimian Tradition 50 Quantitative Approaches: Towards Comparative and Trans-Regional Approaches in Historical International Relations 51 Conceptual History in International Relations: from Ideology to Social Theory? 52 Historical Periods and the Act of Periodisation Part VI. Afterword 53 Afterword