Continuity and change in international relations 1919–2019
| DOI | 10.1177/0047117819850238 |
| Date | 01 June 2019 |
| Author | William Bain |
| Published date | 01 June 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Introduction |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117819850238
International Relations
2019, Vol. 33(2) 132 –141
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0047117819850238
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Continuity and change in
international relations
1919–2019
William Bain
National University of Singapore
Abstract
This article reflects on themes of continuity and change over the past century of international
relations. In 1919 the victors of the First World War endeavoured to remake international
relations by abolishing war and erecting institutional structures that were intended to promote
a more just world order. The achievements and failures of this project can be discerned in
overlapping patterns of continuity and change that portray a world that is at once old and new.
The discourse of change tends to dominate thinking about international relations. Technological
innovation, globalisation, and human rights, among other factors, cultivate the progressive ‘one-
worldism’ of an interconnected global community of nations and peoples. But, evidence of change
notwithstanding, much of contemporary international relations would be intelligible to persons
who lived a century ago. International relations is still fundamentally about order and security,
power and restraint, and freedom and equality. These patterns provide an important reminder
that progress is possible but that international relations involves an open-ended project of
continuous renovation and conservation.
Keywords
change, diplomacy, emerging powers, hierarchy, human rights, international institutions,
international law, international organisation, nationalism, race, technology
A century ago, between the Armistice that brought the Great War to an end in 1918 and
the convocation of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, David Davies, a Welsh politician
and philanthropist, and his sisters founded the world’s first chair in international politics
at the University College Wales, Aberystwyth. Named after the American president
Corresponding author:
William Bain, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, AS1 #04-43, 11 Arts Link,
Singapore 117570.
Email: wbain@nus.edu.sg
850238IRE0010.1177/0047117819850238International RelationsBain
research-article2019
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