My review of Emanuel Adler’s fascinating book “World Ordering: A Social Theory of Cognitive Evolution” has finally been published in the International Studies Review. It’s a very innovative take on many of the questions that have occupied International Relations theory, but Adler’s insights apply to so much more than creating and sustaining international order(s). I highly recommend the book to everyone thinking about processes of ‘ordering’ social relations and changing established social orders.
Here’s the first paragraph of the review:
In proposing “a systemic theory of world ordering,” Emanuel Adler’s goal in this extraordinary work could hardly be more ambitious. World Ordering addresses the fundamental questions of how and why (international) social orders are built, maintained, and eventually replaced. Its unique contribution arises from Adler’s detailed consideration of the ontological and epistemological foundations of a novel “evolutionary constructivist social theory”—one that transcends the constraints and silos of mainstream thinking in international relations (IR). Indeed, Adler’s approach supplies not only an explicit critique of IR’s unsatisfactory engagement with social theory, but also a conceptual framework for scholars to study the “simultaneous evolution and stability of multiple and overlapping international and social orders more dynamically” than previously possible (p. 41). Although translating Adler’s complex theoretical apparatus into a framework for empirical analysis remains challenging, World Ordering offers a remarkable new perspective for those theorizing about and analyzing social orders—both within IR and beyond. …
Fabian Bohnenberger 