Violence and Civilization in the Western States-Systems

Reviews / Votes

'Using a masterful synthesis of Elias's process sociology and Wight's comparative states-systems, Linklater gives us an eye-opening history lesson on how the civilizing process worked at both the domestic and international levels to embed restraints on violence. In this long anticipated second volume of his trilogy on harm, he surveys nothing less than the history of Western civilization to provide the empirical evidence for his case that we have made progress.' Barry Buzan, Emeritus Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science 'In one monumental, breath-taking volume Andrew Linklater has synthesised Eliasian historical sociology with English School IR theory and has created something of epic proportions that I doubt Norbert Elias or Martin Wight could have achieved. This book is not simply a worthy heir to Elias's 2-volume masterpiece, The Civilizing Process, but its brilliance is such that it should take its rightful place alongside Michael Mann's first volume of The Sources of Social Power and Immanuel Wallerstein's first volume of The Modern-World System.' John M. Hobson, University of Sheffield