The Two Worlds of Nineteenth Century International Relations : The Bifurcated Century

"This edited volume presents a new, grand and global narrative for international relations (IR) history in the pivotal nineteenth century. Typically considered by IR scholars to be a long century of relative peace after 1815, the contributors offer a re-conceptualization of IR in this century, arguing that it is temporally bifurcated, with very different patterns of behavior in the first and second halves. A mid-century discontinuity - a "pivot period" - marks the transition phase in Europe and globally when, in the space of a few years, a shift occurred from a comparatively calm, politically disconnected world under loose British free trade hegemony to one of scrambles for territory and keen interest in imperial possessions and conquest. All the book's chapters deal with characterizing patterns of relations in the first half of the century or the second, with two addressing the discontinuity in the middle. In the first half aspects of regional orders are described (in Latin America, East Asia and Europe) alongside crucial developmental processes (missionaries and colonial expansion, the agency of regionally localized actors, of leading elites). In the second half, there is again discussion of regional developments (East Asia, Europe), but now under the onslaught and pressures of the latter half of the century, and spotlighting industrialization's impact and the role of status competition and international law. In presenting this new narrative for the nineteenth century, it becomes clear that an era long considered uninteresting on Eurocentric grounds is in fact crucial and pivotal in global terms. This work will be of particular interest to students and scholars of the history of international relations".. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of contributors 8 1. Introduction: The two worlds of nineteenth-century international relations 12 The nineteenth century in international relations history 14 Our arguments and contributions 18 The pivot period 22 The utility of a new narrative 29 Notes 31 Bibliography 31 2. Missionaries and the civilizing mission in British colonialism 36 Missionaries and international relations 38 The rise of missionaries in Britain 40 Bringing together Christianity with the civilizing mission 45 Missionaries and the age of empire 49 Notes 51 References 52 3. Republican privateering: Local networks and political order in the western Atlantic 54 Introduction 54 An age of Atlantic revolutions 55 Privateering as a strategy of recognition 58 A networked order in the Caribbean 59 The case of Las Damas Argentinas 62 Conclusion 65 Notes 66 Bibliography 67 4. Limits of cooperation: The German Confederation and Austro-Prussian rivalry after 1815 71 Introduction 71 Germany between the old empire and the Congress of Vienna 73 The German Confederation as political compromise 77 The limits of the Bund: managing the Austro-Prussian antagonism 79 Conflict over cooperation: from the revolutions of 1848 to the war of 1866 84 Discussion 87 Bibliography 88 5. Rejecting Westphalia: Maintaining the Sinocentric system, to the end 91 Competing diplomatic practices in 19th-century Europe and East Asia 92 Westphalia rejected: Chinese resistance to European diplomacy 97 Explaining Qing behavior: legitimacy, practice, and power 102 Legitimacy, practice, and power in Qing China 103 Conclusion 108 Notes 108 Bibliography 109 6. Ordering Europe: The legalized hegemony of the Concert of Europe 112 The world crisis 112 The Concert of Europe 114 Ordering Europe 116 The effectiveness of the Concert System 119 The global transformation 121 Legalized hegemony 124 Notes 126 Bibliography 127 7. Industrialization and competitive globalization after 1873: International thought and the problem of resources 130 From king coal to singing wires: how industrialization created our world 132 Clutching for certainties in a world in flux: international thought comes of age 138 Mistaking flux for permanence: industrialization in the history of IR 144 Notes 146 Bibliography 146 8. Between European Concert and global status: The evolution of the institution of great powers, 1860s to 1910s 149 Introduction 149 Theoretical framework: patterns of stratification and the institution of great powers 151 The identity of great power status and Concert membership in the 1860s 152 The evolution of the Concert of Europe 155 The emergence of more global managerial practices, though not yet of a global concert 158 Shifting status practices and the continuing relevance of great power status 160 Conclusion 163 Notes 164 Bibliography 164 9. Reordering East Asian international relations after 1860 168 Introduction 168 Expansion of international hierarchy in late nineteenth-century East Asia 170 Hybrid regional order 171 Domestic legitimacy crises in nineteenth-century Japan and Korea 172 Contrasting outcomes of Japanese and Korean status-seeking strategies 179 Conclusion 181 Notes 182 Bibliography 183 10. An evil of ancient date: Piracy and the two Pax Britannicas in nineteenth-century Southeast Asia 188 Introduction 188 Pax Britannica 190 Nineteenth-century Southeast Asian piracy 192 Conclusion 202 Note 203 Bibliography 203 11. Conclusions: The value of our new historical narrative 207 Methodological strictures require engagement with historical narratives 209 Grand narratives are omnipresent anyway 212 The solution? Embrace and construct narratives of IR history 213 Wrapping up 214 Notes 215 Bibliography 215 Index 218 "This edited volume presents a new, grand and global narrative for international relations (IR) history in the pivotal nineteenth century. Typically considered by IR scholars to be a long century of relative peace after 1815, the contributors offer a re-conceptualization of IR in this century, arguing that it is temporally bifurcated, with very different patterns of behavior in the first and second halves. A mid-century discontinuity - a "pivot period"--Marks the transition phase in Europe and globally when, in the space of a few years, a shift occurred from a comparatively calm, politically disconnected world under loose British free trade hegemony to one of scrambles for territory and keen interest in imperial possessions and conquest. All the book's chapters deal with characterizing patterns of relations in the first half of the century or the second, with two addressing the discontinuity in the middle. In the first half aspects of regional orders are described (in Latin America, East Asia and Europe) alongside crucial developmental processes (missionaries and colonial expansion, the agency of regionally localized actors, of leading elites). In the second half, there is again discussion of regional developments (East Asia, Europe), but now under the onslaught and pressures of the latter half of the century, and spotlighting industrialization's impact and the role of status competition and international law. In presenting this new narrative for the nineteenth century, it becomes clear that an era long considered uninteresting on Eurocentric grounds is in fact crucial and pivotal in global terms. This work will be of particular interest to students and scholars of the history of international relations"-- Provided by publisher This edited volume presents a new, grand and global narrative for international relations history for the pivotal nineteenth century. Typically considered by IR scholars to be largely a long century of relative peace after 1815, the contributors offer a re-conceptualization of patterns of IR, arguing that it was in fact a "bifurcated" century.