BOOK REVIEW - The Making of Global International Relations: Origins and Evolution of IR at its Centenary

This article is a scholarly review of the book "The Making of Global International Relations: Origins and Evolution of IR at its Centenary." The reviewer provides an overview of the book's main contribution, which is a major re-examination of the history of the academic discipline of International Relations (IR), challenging its traditional, Eurocentric narrative. The review highlights the book's key argument that IR has always been a more global discipline than is commonly acknowledged, with important contributions from non-Western thinkers and traditions. The reviewer assesses the book's success in "de-colonizing" the history of the discipline by recovering these marginalized voices and perspectives. The review concludes by affirming the book's status as a landmark and essential text for all students and scholars of IR, one that provides a more inclusive and accurate understanding of the global origins and evolution of the field.

The academic discipline of International Relations (IR) has long been criticized for its profound Eurocentrism. This article provides a critical review of a major book that seeks to correct this bias: "The Making of Global International Relations." The review begins by summarizing the book's powerful central thesis: that the standard story of IR, which traces its origins solely to post-World War I Western universities, is a deeply flawed and partial one. The reviewer would then systematically discuss the key arguments and evidence presented in the book to support this claim. This would likely include an analysis of the book's chapters that unearth and analyze the rich traditions of thinking about international relations in other parts of the world, from the anti-colonial internationalism of the early 20th century to the unique perspectives that emerged from China, India, and the Islamic world. The review would praise the book for its groundbreaking historical research and for its powerful and necessary challenge to the intellectual hegemony of the West in the discipline. It would highlight how the book successfully "globalizes" the history of IR, revealing a much richer and more diverse intellectual heritage. The review would conclude by establishing the book as a work of profound importance, a "must-read" text that will fundamentally change how the history of the discipline is taught and understood, and a vital intellectual resource for building a more genuinely "global IR" in the 21st century.