Barry Buzan and the English School of International Relations

This article is devoted to Barry Buzan and his role in the modern development of the English School of International Relations (the School). The aim of the article is to demonstrate the main aspects and the problems of the School's theory at the turn of the 21st century. The sources for the study were the texts of published works by leading members of the School and by Buzan. The English School of International Relations was formed in the 1950s--1960s. Historians Herbert Butterfield, Martin Wight, Adam Watson, Michael Howard, philosophers Donald McKinnon and Hedley Bull took an active part in the creation of this school. The concept "international society" becomes a symbol and a distinctive mark of this community thanks to Hedley Bull's books of the 1970s-1980s. However, by the end of the 20th century, the development of the School faced with many objective and subjective difficulties. Barry Buzan is a famous and authoritative specialists in international relations in the world science. His research is generally recognized in the United States, China, and many European countries. His books demonstrate his abilities to work in different theoretical directions. At the same time, he is an important figure for understanding the main change in the School during the past 20 years. The results of his involvement in the English School theory are as following. (1) He supposes that the concept "world society" is an important part of the English School theory. Like two other principal elements of the general conception -- "international society" and "system states" - the concept "world society" was key for Wight, Bull and other first members of the community; however, the content of the concept was uncertain. Buzan raises a complex of specific questions which define the content of the concept in the School's research program. (2) Buzan continues to study the history of international relations as an autonomous part of the School's agenda. He adapted the idea of an international system to the epoch before the Peace of Westphalia (1648). He continues the tradition of the School's writers (Wight, Watson), who thought that history was important part of the study of international relations. This position of the English School differs from the American discipline, in which international relations are traditionally considered as a branch of political science. (3) Buzan tries to include economic issues into the agenda of the English School theory. Ignoring economic problems in international relations is a traditional drawback of the international society concept. This part of his work is not complete, but he made first important steps in it. (4) Buzan makes a new organizational format for the School after the British Committee on the Theory of International Politics finished its work. The Committee worked for 25 years (1959--1985) and became the basis for the development of the two first generations of the English School of International Relations. Buzan made the concept of international society more open to discussions in modern science, more popular among specialists in international relations abroad. At same time, he preserved the bases of the English School theory. Thanks to his activity during the past 20 years, the English School of International Relations is considered as an autonomous part of the world theory of international relations today.

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