Conclusion: Theoretical Insights from the Study of World History

Abstract

The goal of this volume is to assess the workings of a variety of international systems across thousands of years of time and five continents, in order to learn how they actually worked. The concepts of the balance of power and its opposite, hegemony, involve the most central issues in international politics and international relations theory, and the case studies in this volume focus primarily on these issues. The case studies also, however, address a much wider range of international issues, and therefore offer important evidence on a number of important debates in international relations theory.