The development of modern communications has undermined the traditional division of mankind into separate national societies, each of these properly the subject of individual analysis. The social, economic, intellectual, and cultural differences which once made that kind of analysis very nearly inevitable are now increasingly breaking down. People in general are today closely interdependent with those who live in other societies. Decisions made in other parts of the world have immediate effects upon millions of persons very far removed geographically from the lands that are the epicenters of this or that change in thought or practice. As a result, the entire population of the globe are members of a single, hugely complex but closely interrelated social organism.
In this book, Evan Luard seeks to analyze that wider society, making use of many of the concepts traditionally used in the study of smaller societies–for example, structure, ideology, role, status, conflict, norms, authority. The preface to International Society recalls the trilogy of studies written by Luard in recent years, all of which bore the subtitle. "A study in International Sociology." The first of these described the characteristics of a succession of historical examples of societies consisting of more than a single state, in the light of the concepts mentioned above. The second book examines the differing kinds of economic relationships that arose among the number of such societies. The third volume was devoted to the changing character of war during recent centuries showing how itrs forms and purposes have varied from one international society to another in accordance with the interests, goals, and ideology of the governing elites in each period. International Society presents a synthesis main findings and insights of the earlier works, amounting to a fresh and sometimes startling characterization of the gravitational force of the new world community that is willy-nilly changing the consciousness and actions of individuals and pe