Anticipating the Future: Twenty Millennia of Human Progress

by Barry Buzan, Gerald Segal

"Where are we at the turn of the millennium? How did the world come to be as it is, and what do the stories of our past and present suggest about our future? This ambitious book surveys the 20,000 years from the end of the last Ice Age to 7,000 AD. It is part history, part current events, and part science fiction. In contrast to the mood of millennial pessimism we take an optimistic view of human history. What is truly important about our age only becomes apparent when we see the present both as a product of the past and as the maker of the future. We argue that the human story, with all of its ups and downs, is basically one of progress, and that our time is a major turning point in this epic tale. We take issue with those who say we are seeing the "decline of the West" or a looming "clash of civilisations". Too many millennial authors ignore evidence from the broader sweep of human history. If we are to got a clear view of where we are today, then we need the whole human story -- the last century or even the last millennium will not do."

Genres: History

Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Barry Buzan is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (formerly Montague Burton Professor), and honorary professor at Copenhagen and Jilin Universities. In 1998 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. He has written, co-authored or edited over twenty books, written or co-authored more than one hundred and thirty articles and chapters, and lectured, broadcast or presented papers in over twenty countries. Among his books are: People, States and Fear: The National Security Problem in International Relations (1983, revised 2nd edition 1991); The Logic of Anarchy: Neorealism to Structural Realism (1993, with Charles Jones and Richard Little); Security: A New Framework for Analysis (1998, with Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde); International Systems in World History: Remaking the Study of International Relations (2000, with Richard Little); Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security (2003, with Ole Wæver); From International to World Society? English School Theory and the Social Structure of Globalisation (2004); The Evolution of International Security Studies (2009, with Lene Hansen) and Non-Western International Relations Theory (2010, co-edited with Amitav Acharya). Work in progress includes The Global Transformation: The 19th Century and the Making of Modern International Relations (2013, with George Lawson).