ABSTRACT
There is no clearly distinct group or school of research that identifies itself as ‘global polity research’. Yet a number of scholarly contributions in international relations share some common characteristics that allow us to group them under this label. Most importantly, they share a focus on global politics as a much more interconnected and institutionalized whole than is recognized by more traditional state-centred perspectives. Most agree that even an embryonic world government or global state is still only a distant and uncertain, if not impossible and undesirable prospect, including those who introduce terminology to that effect (e.g. Luard 1990; Albrow 1996; Shaw 2000). Nevertheless, a seemingly growing number of researchers recognize that decisions are made and policies carried out with consequences for all or many countries through international and transnational structures and processes, and increasingly so. Consequently, researchers have begun to develop perspectives, concepts and theories that transcend the traditional distinction between domestic and international politics and direct attention to international and transnational political structures and processes in new ways. In this sense I would argue that a new research agenda has emerged. ‘Global polity research’ is used here to label these research efforts, whether or not the scholars in question would accept being pigeonholed as such.
