The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations

by John Baylis, Patricia Owens (Primary Contributor), Steve Smith (Editor)

Now in its third edition, The Globalization of World Politics has been fully revised to cover the latest developments in world politics. The book features three new chapters on International Law, Terrorism, and Social Constructivism and two updated case studies.
Written specially for those coming to the subject for the first time, this text has been carefully edited by John Baylis and Steve Smith to ensure a coherent, accessible and lively account of the globalization of world politics. As with the previous edition, there is a companion website that
offers up-to-date case studies of the conflicts in Kosovo and the 1990-91 Gulf War and a new case study on Iraq. The Globalization of World Politics , Third Edition, is ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses in International Relations.

Genres: Politics, International Relations, Nonfiction, Political Science, Textbooks, Academic, History

856 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 1997

Reviews

[Akshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everybody knows what an important book this is for the student of International Relations and it is considered one of the basic texts for all the right reasons. Giving one a glimpse of the evolution of the international system over the ages to explaining nearly all the relevant phenomenon through the lens of different theoretical paradigms, it keeps the much celebrated "globalization" central to its discussions. Specific chapters have been written by well known authors of the field and ever since my first meeting with this book last year, I've enjoyed reading it every time I've picked it up.

I bought the fifth edition for myself and was overwhelmed by the beauty of its colourful and glazed paper and attractive design. However, my only complain is that in the course of widening its scope, the new edition seems to have cut down on the depth of the analysis previous editions offered ( an example is the chapter on World history from 1900-1990). This compromise of depth in favour of breadth means that the book remains only a starting point, albeit, a thoroughly engaging, up-to-date and relevant one! This also enables it to be a book that would be accessible to both students of I.R. along with a person who may not belong to the academic field but may be intrigued by International Relations nevertheless.

Note : The sheer beauty of the book along with the ease of reading it makes it one of my most prized possessions :)

[Bookworm Amir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This textbook is a must for any International Relations student. As a newbie, it gives us the basic structure that we can use to comprehend the basics of IR, as well as the contemporary issues at hand.

One of my professors said that the book was so good, as each chapter was written by a renowned scholar of that field, that he fears students might just use that textbook for references and ideas.

The book has a useful glossary, questions at the end of chapters, further readings, colourful texts and photos, and for each sub-chapter, a review. I have been writing notes and underlining texts on this book.

My only concern that as a 2nd year student, while it has proved very useful for qualifying year, now it seems that what they talk about - to depth and width - is lacking. Say if I was to write about the issue of nationalism, this textbook will quickly give me the basics, but nothing more. I would have to go to JSTOR and other journals to get the more specific information which our paper requires. The textbook is great for beginners, and as the title of the book mentions, it is an introduction merely. I am happy to have read most of the book from cover to cover.

[Manar · Rating 4 out of 5]

- a must for any International Relations student

[Natalia Prokop · Rating 1 out of 5]

co za gówno!

nie pozdrawiam

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative ✔✔✔🙏

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is highly dense; it covers everything and then some. It is also, I would say, a successful attempt to explain its topics from the more relevant perspectives. The editors' definition of relevance in this case made sure that we got a measured diversity. I find this reference similar to this one, but I found the former to be more digestible. Again, I take into account that I used this book for coursework rather than purely for reading. There were significant updates in the edition, notably mentions of the Trump administration.

I managed a PDF copy of the 2020 edition, which was technically perfect for my purposes. Compared to another dense main course reference this semester, I didn't notice any spelling- or grammar-related discrepancies in this one, if there were any at all.

[José · Rating 2 out of 5]

está regular
bastante más pesado que el de goldstein porque no tiene ejemplos ni vainas
aunque los primeros capítulos sobre las tradiciones de pensamiento son mejores y más teóricos que el manual de goldstein
no lo volvería a leer

[yun with books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my thesis....

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

hvor ville jeg dog være uden den her bestie

[Ambuj Sahu · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5.
A nice and gripping starter to theories of Internstional Relations. The books is divided into three sections.
The first section traces the evolution of current international orders glancing through the prevailing systems in world history. It is supplemented by the theoretical tools used to understand the approaches towards the subject.
The second sections deals with various actors and their roles in the larger game of international politics. I specially enjoyed the chapter on war and feminist approaches.
The final section comprises of prevalent global challenges and issues faced by the international community. Ranging from poverty, security, environment, nuclear proliferation and terrorism, the authors provides interesting insights into the problems with many perspective.

Additional case studies and boxes help to test and track the understanding of concepts. Every chapter concludes with analyzing the theme with respect of globalization. The content of book is sheer justice to the title and reputation of the book. I deducted 0.5 because I still have a few chapters to finish (as the ones on international regime and private actors are too dry, factual and boring...)

[Ike Sharpless · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the textbook I chose for my upcoming intro to IR course, which I'm teaching for the first time. So it'll be listed as "reading" for at least the next three months...

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, let's talk about what John Baylis' "The Globalization of World Politics" is: a sweeping, relatively comprehensive overview of the field of International Relations. With five chapters on world history, another 7 on the major theoretical schools of IR, and then another 15+ chapters on various topics of importance such as international ethics, modern warfare, peacekeeping and diplomacy, international political economy, and others. Suffice to say, GWP is a massive, sprawling look at just about all the major topics in contemporary IR.

That being said, the depth of each topic necessarily can't be more than an overview, and while this may suffice for an "Intro to IR" course, it won't leave you with much beyond that. In addition to that, the strength of each chapter varies wildly; while I found his chapters on realism, constructivism, and Marxism pretty descriptive, sections like those about the impact of post-colonialism or feminism were largely lacking. However, Baylis wins points for having 5-15 "Further Reading" suggestions at the end of each chapter and topic, which serve as a basic jumping-off point for motivated students. He also includes a rather excellent Glossary at the end of the text, which prepares readers with precisely the kind of vocabulary needed to navigate a field as academic as international relations.

Baylis also takes an approach largely agnostic from bias; while you can tell based on his attention to detail about certain topics where his expertise lies, he also largely avoids the very common trap of completely neglecting heterodox schools of thought or uncomfortable facts about popular perspectives. Perhaps this is due to his European academic heritage. All I know is, I was genuinely surprised to find an entire section about Antonio Gramsci's contributions to IR written without bias-- this is something you'd never find from a professor at, say, the University of Texas, and I found it incredibly refreshing. Ditto for Baylis' asides on the spread and growth of economic inequality as a side effect of globalization and interdependence, for another example. Really one of the strongest aspects of the book.

"The Globalization of World Politics" suffers from the misfortune of trying to introduce students to a gigantic and relevant field of study, and while it mostly accomplishes the goal, it can't possibly get all the way. I don't hold it against Baylis, because this effort is sure the best one I've come across so far, but it is what it is. If you're looking for an exhaustive, 2000-page tome that covers every aspect of IR in depth, I'm not sure it exists. But for an educating and interesting introduction? GWP has you covered in spades.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rarely read text books cover-to-cover, but I did so with this one. I appreciated the natural progression of the work--from discussing theories of international politics and questioning the very existence of globalization, to addressing factual matters such as the functioning of the UN and other international actors and discussing world problems seen daily in periodicals.

I found that the authors presented a fair-minded analysis of each subject in an intelligent, comprehensible way and almost always struck a great balance between educating and informing the reader about the issues, viewpoints, etc. while letting the reader comes to his/her own conclusions where points of view may differ among the experts.

Finally, I like this book as it provides a wealth of additional information to guide the student. From a detailed glossary and index at the back of the book to multiple summaries of chapter subsections and carefully-crafted annotated bibliographies for further exploration at the end of each chapter, this book left me with a wealth of further reading suggestions and easy ways to come back to it for reference.

[Shlomo Hole · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is a very academic book, and I do not mean that in a good way. It is very focused on semantics, interpretation, representation and the study of the study of IR. It does not give much practical information. A lot of the information given is very general, basic and simple. Sometimes outright false. It could be useful for someone who is young and does not even follow the news, but personally it did not bring me any information. I only read half of it before I stopped.

[Phuong Anh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be 3.5 to be honest. Finished this textbook in 1 month! Such a laborious journey. The book did a good job as a textbook! But it is also a testimonial for why noone wants to read textbook. Sentences are like 10 line long, which makes readers go through the same passage again and again. I wonder is there any way to make international relations an interesting topic?!!

[Muhammad Murad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read many of its chapters over the last couple of years. It helped me a lot in my concept making related to the subject, especially the theories of world politics. I will recommend it to those who have interest in the subject of world politics and world politics.

[Ian Pitchford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is - and deserves to be - one of the most popular textbooks on international relations in the globalised era. It has good historical context and thorough accounts of the various theoretical approaches, both of which are genuinely enjoyable to read.

[Nisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very helpful for IR subject

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, this was my textbook for INR2001 so how good could it really be?
I learned a lot tho. Plus I’m a nerd. 3/5

[Ali Raza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very comprehensive.. It's case studies are the best.

[Andromeda Robins · Rating 3 out of 5]

a very dense textbook, but still relatively easy to understand as far as textbooks go

[Nicola ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I totally forgot to mark this one as finished! Really great book for those new to IR - definitely helped me to grasp the basic concepts.

[Sumaira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

[Krista Ducharme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Counts to this Textbook and all my second year readings.

[Terri Karp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Airbnb book

[RainOnMeTsunami · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many subjects, loved the linkage and the way of going from the general to the specific to representing all that is happening in world politics till 21 chap.

[Christopher Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful, but I never would have read it if it hadn’t been assigned reading for my international relations class.

[Kirti Prajapati · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded to 3.

[Sham Al-Ghazali · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly huge help with my university degree however history is written by the "winners" and this somewhat looks on globalization all too favorably

[Mikaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best introductions to International Relations and global politics. For students (or readers) who are looking for an informative text on World Politics, this textbook is comprehensible and filled with examples. However, like many Western published textbooks, much of the content swings to Western culture and society. Understandably so, as the history of academic international relations were popularized by the West, however, for an introduction to politics and comparative politics, the text is easy to read.