Competition in World Politics

1. Why did you choose this topic?

As a historian and a sociologist with interests in economics, we were struck by the growing volume of commentary on ›great power competition‹, especially between the US and China, over the past few years. We wondered what might be gained by looking at the different uses of ›competition‹ across different disciplines and social fields; and we also wondered whether this was just a ›great power‹ phenomenon or one involving smaller states, too.

2. What new perspectives does your book offer?

Competition between states is often treated as a kind of ambient background condition of international politics. In their different ways, the contributors to our volume show how competition is constructed and how it changed over time. What structures and sources of information are required to make competition possible? What roles are played by new technologies and ideologies? What can past era of intense world-political competition tell us about the present? These are questions that are outside the mainstream of international relations as a discipline; but second-nature for historians and sociologists.

3. What makes your topic relevant for current research debates?

Particularly in the fields of international law and international relations, scholars are grappling with the sheer range and diversity of fields – from microchip production to public health – that are part of contemporary political competition between states. We see our work as a contribution to scholarly debates over ›weaponised interdependence‹ and the ‹securitisation‹ of the world economy.

4. Choose one person you would like to discuss your book with!

Georg Simmel.

5. Your book summary in one sentence:

A new interdisciplinary exploration of competition in world politics.