Taking off from a recent article in this journal by Barry Buzan and Mathias Albert, I present a framework of structural differentiation as an alternative to IR’s standard tripartite conception of the elements of structure. Rather than employ ideal type models, though, as Buzan and Albert do, I present a more open-textured, multidimensional account of differentiation. I also emphasize the systemic nature of structural analysis. The elements of structure are interdependent parts of wholes (systems) — not the independent variables implied by standard formulations such as ‘the effects of anarchy’. A multidimensional systemic approach directs our attention to the diversity of and change in international systems and their structures, which mainstream structural IR typically ignores or obscures. I illustrate both the regularity of extensive structural change and the analytical utility of my differentiation framework with case studies of post-World War II international society and contemporary processes of globalization.
AdlerEPouliotV (2011) International practices. International Theory3(1): 1–36.
2.
AlbertMCedermanL-EWendtA (eds) (2010) New Systems Theories of World Politics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
3.
BlauPM (1975) Structural constraints and status complements. In: CoserLA (ed.) The Idea of Social Structure: Papers in Honor of Robert K. Merton. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 117–138.
4.
BlauPM (1977) Inequality and Heterogeneity: A Primitive Theory of Social Structure. New York: The Free Press.
5.
BourdieuP (1990 [1980]) The Logic of Practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
6.
BullH (1977) The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.
7.
BuzanB (2004) From International Society to World Society? English School Theory and the Social Structure of Globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8.
BuzanBAlbertM (2010) Differentiation: A sociological approach to international relations theory. European Journal of International Relations16(3): 315–337.
9.
BuzanBLittleR (2000) International Systems in World History: Remaking the Study of International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
10.
DeudneyD (2007) Bounding Power: Republican Security Theory from the Polis to the Global Village. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
11.
DonnellyJ (2006) Sovereign inequalities and hierarchy in anarchy: American power and international society. European Journal of International Relations12(2): 139–170.
12.
DonnellyJ (2009) Rethinking political structures: From ‘ordering principles’ to ‘vertical differentiation’ — and beyond. International Theory1(1): 49–86.
13.
EisenstadtSN (1964) Social change, differentiation and evolution. American Sociological Review29(3): 375–386.
14.
FazalTM (2007) State Death: The Politics and Geography of Conquest, Occupation, and Annexation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
15.
GilpinR (1981) War and Change in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
HobsonJMSharmanJC (2005) The enduring place of hierarchy in world politics: Tracing the social logics of hierarchy and political change. European Journal of International Relations11(1): 63–98.
18.
HolstiKJ (2004) Taming the Sovereigns: Institutional Change in International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
19.
JacksonRH (1990) Quasi-States: Sovereignty, International Relations and the Third World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
20.
JervisR (1997) System Effects: Complexity in Political and Social Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
21.
JohnsonAG (2000) The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
22.
JuteauD (2003) Introducing differentiation theory. In: JuteauD (ed.) Social Differentiation: Patterns and Processes. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 3–24.
23.
KaufmanSLittleRWohlforthW (eds) (2007) The Balance of Power in World History. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
24.
KeohaneRO (1989) International Institutions and State Power: Essays in International Relations Theory. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
25.
KeohaneRONyeJS (1989) Power and Interdependence. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
26.
KingsburyB (1998) Sovereignty and inequality. European Journal of International Law9(4): 599–625.
27.
KontopoulosKM (1993) The Logics of Social Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
28.
LakeDA (2009) Hierarchy in International Relations. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
29.
LuhmannN (1990) The paradox of system differentiation and the evolution of society. In: AlexanderJCColomyP (eds) Differentiation Theory and Social Change: Comparative and Historical Perspectives. New York: Columbia University Press, 409–440.
30.
LuhmannN (1995 [1984]) Social Systems. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
31.
LuhmannN (2002) The cognitive program of constructivism and the reality that remains unknown. In: RaschW (ed.) Theories of Distinction: Redescribing the Descriptions of Modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 128–153.
32.
MearsheimerJJ (2001) The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: Norton.
33.
MeyerJWJeppersonRL (2000) The ‘actors’ of modern society: The cultural construction of social agency. Sociological Theory18(1): 100–120.
34.
MeyerJWBoliJThomasGM. (1997) World society and the nation-state. American Journal of Sociology103(1): 144–181.
35.
NexonDH (2009) The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
36.
PhilpottD (2001) Revolutions in Sovereignty: How Ideas Shaped Modern International Relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
37.
PouliotV (2010) International Security in Practice: The Politics of NATO–Russia Diplomacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
38.
Reus-SmitC (1999) The Moral Purpose of the State: Culture, Social Identity, and Institutional Rationality in International Relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
39.
RosenbergJ (2006) Why is there no international historical sociology?European Journal of International Relations12(3): 307–340.
40.
SchwarzenbergerG (1951) Power Politics: A Study of International Society, 2nd edn.London/New York: Stevens/F. A. Praeger.
41.
SnyderGH (1996) Process variables in neorealist theory. Security Studies5(3): 167–192.
42.
Spencer-BrownG (1969) Laws of Form. London: Allen & Unwin.
43.
ThomasGM (2010) Differentiation, rationalization and actorhood. In: AlbertMCedermanL-EWendtA (eds) New Systems Theories of World Politics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 220–244.
44.
WaltzKN (1979) Theory of International Politics. New York: Random House.
45.
WaltzKN (1986) Reflections on Theory of International Politics: A response to my critics. In: KeohaneRO (ed.) Neo-Realism and its Critics. New York: Columbia University Press, 322–345.
46.
WaltzKN (1990a) Nuclear myths and political realities. American Political Science Review84(3): 731–745.
47.
WaltzKN (1990b) Realist thought and neo-realist theory. Journal of International Affairs44(1): 21–37.
48.
WaltzKN (2000) Structural realism after the Cold War. International Security25(1): 5–41.
49.
WatsonA (1992) The Evolution of International Society: A Comparative Historical Analysis. London: Routledge.
50.
WeberS (1990) Realism, detente, and nuclear weapons. International Organization44(1): 55–82.
51.
WendtA (1999) Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
52.
YoffeeN (1993) Too many chiefs? (or, safe texts for the ’90s). In: YoffeeNSherrattA (eds) Archaeological Theory: Who Sets the Agenda?Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 60–77.
53.
YoffeeN (2005) Myths of the Archaic State: Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States and Civilizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
54.
ZacherM (2001) The territorial integrity norm: International boundaries and the use of force. International Organization55(2): 215–250.
