The historical transition of our times: the question of globality in historical sociology

This paper argues that the traditions of the social sciences are struggling to understand global change. It offers a critique of attempts to bring historical sociology into international relations, which has resulted in the import of a tradition that has been focused on earlier modern transformations, and underestimates global change. At the same time, it argues that conceptions of globality in international relations have understated the transformation of state relations and forms in the modern world. The paper argues that we need a historical-sociological conception of the political changes that constitute the core of globality. It attempts to supply a key element of this by examining global politics as the product of struggle between a globalised democratic revolution and authoritarian counter-revolution, leading to genocidal wars. It explores the development of state institutions of the global era in the context of these conflicts.