ABSTRACT
The purpose of the first part of the book, ‘The ancient states systems’, is to see what we
can discern about the organization of relations between different peoples in other
civilizations. In the light of our findings we will be able in the second part to examine
‘The European international society’, which derived much from previous experience. The
third part examines ‘The global international society’. The contemporary international
system grew out of the European one, and many of the rules and institutions of the
European society have simply been applied globally; but it also incorporates ideas and
practices from earlier systems.
