A historical survey of the states system which grew up in Europe and then spread to the entire "civilized" world, only to be challenged after World War II by the anti-colonial revolution and the demands of Third World states for a new international order. Many of the authors are in less than perfect agreement and almost all are Western in outlook (the Third World is just barely represented, the Communist world not at all). It has no transcendent message, but the conclusions show at least a modest satisfaction that, despite much erosion, an international order with some accepted rules and institutions still survives.
