
World Politics
A Critical Introduction to International Relations
Catherine Goetze(Author)
SAGE Publications Ltd (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 27. January 2026
Book
Hardback
440 pages
978-1-5296-2563-9 (ISBN)
Description
World Politics: A Critical Introduction to International Relations offers an engaging and accessible exploration of critical theories in international relations. Drawing on a rich array of narratives and perspectives, it provides a systematic introduction to feminist, queer, decolonial, and other critical approaches.
The book examines how politics in the 20th and 21st centuries have been instrumental in creating, shaping, and perpetuating global hierarchies of power and status. It critically analyses how the Eurocentrism embedded in the international system is the result of deliberate, often violent, political actions aimed at establishing world order. These actions continue to influence daily lives and shape societies in profound ways.
Complete with practical examples, case studies, and vignettes, this textbook is an essential resource if you are looking to decolonise, feminise, and integrate a broader range of critical perspectives into your study of International Relations.
nstructors have access to a range of online materials that have been carefully curated to support their teaching, including a Teaching Guide, PowerPoints and a testbank.
Catherine Goetze is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Tasmania, Australia.
The book examines how politics in the 20th and 21st centuries have been instrumental in creating, shaping, and perpetuating global hierarchies of power and status. It critically analyses how the Eurocentrism embedded in the international system is the result of deliberate, often violent, political actions aimed at establishing world order. These actions continue to influence daily lives and shape societies in profound ways.
Complete with practical examples, case studies, and vignettes, this textbook is an essential resource if you are looking to decolonise, feminise, and integrate a broader range of critical perspectives into your study of International Relations.
nstructors have access to a range of online materials that have been carefully curated to support their teaching, including a Teaching Guide, PowerPoints and a testbank.
Catherine Goetze is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Tasmania, Australia.
Reviews / Votes
Goetze's volume discusses IR theory from a fully critical angle, taking a much-needed feminist and decolonial perspective as starting point. Written in an accessible style and illustrated with a vast amount of clear examples, World Politics is called to successfully lead a full generation of students into the complexities of contemporary global affairs. -- Dr Mauricio Palma-Gutierrez (he/him)More details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 246 mm
Width: 189 mm
Weight
1016 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5296-2563-9 (9781529625639)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
approx. 02/2026
1st Edition
SAGE Publications Ltd
€49.34
Not yet published

E-Book
01/2026
1st Edition
Sage Publications Ltd (Digital)
€96.99
Available for download

E-Book
01/2026
1st Edition
Sage Publications Ltd (Digital)
€96.99
Available for download
Person
Catherine Goetze is Senior Lecturer at the University of Tasmania in Australia. She has been an academic at universities in Germany, France, the UK, China and Australia. She speaks three languages and has lived on four continents. Her research spans questions of peace, migration, families in world politics, and feminist IR. She is editor of the Contemporary Reader of Feminist International Relations (2025, Routledge) and author of the monograph 'The Distinction of Peace' (2017, University of Michigan Press).
Content
Chapter 1 How We Know What the World Is
Chapter 2 International Relations: The Making of an Academic Discipline
Chapter 3 Ideologies That Shape the World
Chapter 4 How the International Was Made
Chapter 5 The Rise of the Liberal World Order
Chapter 6 Decolonization and the Making of the Third World
Chapter 7 The World Economic Order
Chapter 8 Development
Chapter 9 Finance
Chapter 10 Migration
Chapter 11 Transnational Non-State Actors and Global Civil Society
Chapter 12 Global Climate Change and Environmental Governance
Chapter 13 Humanitarianism and Humanitarian Interventions
Chapter 14 Geopolitics
Chapter 15 Surveillance and The Exceptional Powers of the State
Chapter 2 International Relations: The Making of an Academic Discipline
Chapter 3 Ideologies That Shape the World
Chapter 4 How the International Was Made
Chapter 5 The Rise of the Liberal World Order
Chapter 6 Decolonization and the Making of the Third World
Chapter 7 The World Economic Order
Chapter 8 Development
Chapter 9 Finance
Chapter 10 Migration
Chapter 11 Transnational Non-State Actors and Global Civil Society
Chapter 12 Global Climate Change and Environmental Governance
Chapter 13 Humanitarianism and Humanitarian Interventions
Chapter 14 Geopolitics
Chapter 15 Surveillance and The Exceptional Powers of the State