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Arjun Chowdhury scoops this year's Hedley Bull Prize

Hedley Bull Bull Prize Winner, Arjun ChowdhuryWe are delighted to announce that Arjun Chowdhury, University of British Columbia, has been honoured with the 2019 Hedley Bull Prize in International Relations, for his book The Myth of International Order: Why Weak States Persist and Alternatives to the State Fade Away (OUP 2018).  

About Arjun’s book

The Myth of International Order challenges some of the core tenets of international relations theory and makes an important contribution to the literature. Arjun develops his discussion around two questions: 

  • What has the modern state been consistently incapable of fulfilling its fundamental tasks?
  • Why, despite this incapability, does the state, and not some alternative institution, remain the central unit of world politics?

Arjun’s book questions the accepted view of international order as emanating from the agency of strong states and their capacity for war-making as well as public goods. Instead, he proposes an explanation for why most states in the international system are weak and self-undermining. 

The Myth of International Order provides a macro-revision of key domestic and international explanatory theories of state formation and international system development, and it offers an array of empirical implications for small and large states as well as colonial and post-colonial states. 

 

 

 


The Myth of International OrderFrom our prize jury

‘The book is written in a lively and eloquent style, full of wit and a feel for the right anecdote to illustrate a general point, and an ease with which cultural and anthropological knowledge is integrated in a general theory of international relations that amply justifies a prize in the political science of international relations.’

In his own words

‘To go from reading Hedley Bull for one’s comprehensive examinations to winning the Hedley Bull Prize from the ECPR is an honour and a thrill. I am deeply grateful to the jury. I hope my book contributes to an understanding of international order in which the development of non-Western states comes to be seen as the normal, rather than exceptional, outcome of how the international system has evolved in the last two hundred years.’

Jury members

Mary Farrell ECPR Executive Committee Member (Chair)
Maurizio Carbone ECPR Executive Committee Member
Dirk De Bièvre nominated convenor of the Standing Group of International Relations
Briony Jones nominated convenor of the Standing Group on Human Rights and Transitional Justice
Gëzim Visoka nominated convenor of the Standing Group on Critical Peace and Conflict Studies
Peter Niesen nominated convenor of the Standing Group on International Political Theory

Keywords: International Relations

31 July 2019
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