The Social Evolution of World Politics

How can we understand long-term change in world politics better? Based on readings of thinkers as diverse as Habermas, Foucault and Luhmann, the authors of this book propose a framework for understanding such change in terms of social evolution. They show that processes of social learning and unlearning are key to understanding the long-term historical evolution of complex societies, and propose to approach these with the core concepts of autonomization, hierarchical complexity, and co-evolution. Three case studies illustrate this social evolutionary perspective to the study of world politics, examining the evolution of forms of organizing political authority, of conflicts, of diplomacy, of law as boundary condition.

Mathias Albert, born in 1967, is a professor of political science at Universität Bielefeld. He specializes in the history and sociology of world politics, youth research, and polar politics.

Hauke Brunkhorst, born in 1945, is a senior professor of sociology at Europa-Universität Flensburg. He has published widely in social and legal philosophy as well as on the sociology and evolution/revolution of law and constitutions.

Iver B. Neumann, born in 1959, is a political scientist and social anthropologist and director of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Oslo. He specializes in the history and pre-history of world politics as well as on contemporary affairs, particularly in relation to Russia.

Stephan Stetter, born in 1972, is a professor of international politics and conflict studies at the Universität der Bundeswehr München. His main research interests are the history and sociology of world politics as well as Middle Eastern politics and EU foreign affairs.