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Few books on war & peace have sold more than Norman Angell's The Great Illusion (1910). Few books have been more debated; few have been more misunderstood. This essay reviews the key argument of The Great Illusion, & shows how this book -- & its curious author -- played a formative role in the emergence of JR as a social science around the time of World War I. First, the book offered an incisive criticism of the approach of Realpolitik. Second, it introduced an alternative approach to modern interstate analysis -- an approach that hinged on the concept of interdependence. Third, the book sparked one of the first scholarly debates between Realists & Liberals on the causes of war & the preconditions of peace. These are only some of the reasons why this book deserves to be shortlisted as an influential classic in the field of International Relations. References. Adapted from the source document.

It is well established in International Relations that the modem state & the state system originated at the Peace of Westphalia (1648). In this article, the author argues that there is little evidence to support such an understanding, neither in the texts of the treaties nor in the political situation before or in the wake of 1648. Rather, the Peace of Westphalia can in many ways be understood to be a step backwards from a modem understanding of sovereignty (cuius regio, eius religio: whose region it is, his religion it is), which to some extent was represented in the Peace of Augsburg (1555). International Relations' understanding of the Peace of Westphalia is based on a mythical understanding of historical processes. Furthermore, the author argues, International Relations should abandon the mythical watershed which 1648 represents. However, instead of searching for another myth to explain the origin of its main object of study, one should instead re-conceptualise the discipline in a new & more dynamic way, taking into account the heterogeneous character of the international system. 60 References. Adapted from the source document.