Open AccessSingularity or Aberration? A Response to Buzan and Lawson
Author(s) -
Musgrave Paul,
Nexon Daniel H.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.897
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1468-2478
pISSN - 0020-8833
DOI - 10.1111/isqu.12030
Subject(s) - politics , singularity , sociology , late 19th century , epistemology , positive economics , political science , law , aesthetics , philosophy , economics , mathematical analysis , mathematics , period (music)
Musgrave, Paul and Daniel H. Nexon. (2013) Singularity or Aberration? A Response to Buzan and Lawson. International Studies Quarterly , doi: 10.1111/isqu.12030
© 2013 International Studies Association Buzan and Lawson (2012) urge IR scholars to consider what the 19th century can teach us about the contemporary world. Although we agree that IR scholars should draw from a wider range of historical experiences in formulating and testing their theories, we disagree with Buzan and Lawson's contentions that the lessons of the 19th century are self‐evident. We argue that the 19th century may have been either an aberration in human history, during which the traditional political and economic centers of gravity were temporarily displaced by Western Europe and its offshoots, or a Singularity, in which the takeoff of the industrial revolution fundamentally changed the relationship of politics, culture, and economics. In either case, the 19th century may have less to tell us about contemporary IR than Buzan and Lawson suggest.