This book offers a theoretical and historical synthesis of the politics of globality. It reflects my deep dissatisfaction with the ways in which the social scientists have so far grasped the meaning of ‘global’ change. The book is ambitious in its range and, because it touches on a considerable variety of materials, may not always satisfy specialists. I can only hope that, even where its specific judgements need to be qualified, its critical thrust will provoke serious reflection on the ways in which we understand (and act in) the world of the twenty-first century.

The book reflects my own institutional movement in the social sciences, from a sociological to an international relations context. It has involved a deeper engagement with the international literature, yet this has not shaken me in my belief that the perspectives of a historically oriented sociology offer a breadth of understanding that international relationists do not always achieve. At the same time, I remain unhappy about the gulf that still exists between ‘global’ theorizing in sociology and the work of historical sociologists, much of which has underestimated the scope of contemporary historical change. The sense that there is still a fundamental critical task, to shift the ways in which we think about the global, is what has made this book return repeatedly to the level of concepts rather than turn fully to the empirical exploration of global state power.