ABSTRACT
The concept of International Sociology is not especially new. Martin Wight, the English School's doyen of classical theory, describes David Hume's treatise, Of the balance of power, written in 1752, as 'an essay in international sociology.'2 In 1966, the W orld Congress of Sociology fIrst included a panel on 'The Sociology of International Relations'. Since then, a number of scholars ranging from Evan Luard to Fred Halliday have sought to delineate a distinct fIeld of analysis which explicitly links International Relations and sociology. In the main, though, when IR scholars have looked for inspiration and insight from other disciplines, they have turned to political science and economics rather than sociology. For their part, sociologists, particularly historical sociologists, have repeatedly ignored or marginalized International Relations, even when dealing specifically with international events or the core concepts of world politics. This chapter is an attempt to build some foundational links between International Relations and sociology, using insights from both disciplines to construct a workable, rigorous and systematic International Sociology.
