| Summary/Abstract |
With Global Capitalism, Global War, Global Crisis, Andreas Bieler and Adam David Morton have written a rich and original book arguing for the necessity of a ‘historical materialist moment’ in the study of international change and development. The book raises several key theoretical, conceptual and methodological questions about the nature and scope of IR and IPE, and offers innovative responses to long-standing debates. Of particular importance is their argument for a relational ontology that recognises the extent to which entities do not stand on their own, independent and external to one another.1 On the contrary, seemingly disconnected social categories are in fact internally related precisely because they are elements of the same social whole. Given the tendency within the field to conceptualise states and markets as independent and exogeneous structures, the authors’ case for the philosophy of internal relations represents a refreshing proposal that holds the promise of a truly integrated theoretical framework capable to account for the interaction between global capitalism and the states system.
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