Resumen de The standard of 'civilisation', the expansion thesis and the 19th-century international social space

Edward Keene

• This article identifies a series of gaps in the English school�s thesis of the �expansion of international society� from European to global extension, and presents two propositions that can correct these problems, and so give us a better understanding of the social space in which 19th-century international relations were carried on. First, we should replace the concept of �expansion� with �stratification�, changing the terms of the enquiry from an examination of �entry into� the society of states to an exploration of who was where in the 19th-century international social system. Secondly, we should add a more relational analysis of patterns of association to the English school�s predominantly institutionalist approach to the analysis of the structure of international society. To flesh out these two proposals, the article presents a neo-Weberian framework for thinking about international social stratification and an empirical analysis of patterns of treaty-making.