Forthcoming

Empires of The Mind: International Society and the Search for a New Order

James Mayall

Since the end of the First World War there have been three attempts to reform the international order and to break the age-old hold of empire, hierarchy and realpolitik over international society, The Treaty of Versailles established the League of Nations and sought to make the world not only safe for democracy, but for the principle of national self-determination. In 1945 the United Nations Organisation was created and to the earlier objectives was added a system of economic governance and regulation. In 1991 the stated goal was to democratise the international order simultaneously at the local, national, and international levels. None of these efforts was successful. This book examines the reasons for these repeated failures, the persistent hold of the idea of empire over the human imagination, and the prospects for the future.

James Mayall

After compulsory national service in West Africa and a diplomatic posting in India in the mid-1960s, James Mayall worked at the Board of Trade in London before joining the International Relations Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He taught there until 1998 when he was elected as the first Sir Patrick Sheehy Professor of International Relations and fellow of Sidney Sussex College. He has written widely on the history and nature of international society, the impact of nationalism on international conflict, the Commonwealth and North-South relations. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2001. His latest books are Power, Legitimacy and World Order (2023), (co-edited with S. Pulipaka and K. Srinivasan); World Politics, Progress and its Limits (2013) and The New Protectorates (with RS de Oliveira) (2012).



Contents

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction: Empires of the Mind
2. Empire, Modernity and the International Order
3. Empire in the Age of Ideology
4. Empire in the Cold War
5. Empire in the Age of Corporate Capitalism
6. Conclusion: The Uncertain Future of International Society

Index