Great Powers and the Quest for Hegemony: The World Order Since 1500

by Jeremy Black

This timely book provides a general overview of Great Power politics and world order from 1500 to the present. Jeremy Black provides several historical case-studies, each of which throws light on both the power in question and the international system of the period, and how it had developed from the preceding period. The point of departure for this book is Paul Kennedy’s 1988 masterpiece, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers . That iconic book, with its enviable mastery of the sources and its skilful integration of political, military and economic history, was a great success when it appeared and has justifiably remained important since. Written during the Cold War, however, Kennedy’s study was very much of its time in its consideration of the great powers in ‘Western’ terms, and its emphasis on economics. This book brings together strategic studies, international relations, military history and geopolitics to answer some of the contemporary questions left open by Professor Kennedy's great work, and also looks to the future of great power relations and of US hegemony. Great Powers and the Quest for Hegemony will be of great interest to students of international relations, strategic studies and international history.

Genres: History, Textbooks

284 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Jeremy Black is an English historian, who was formerly a professor of history at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US.
Black is the author of over 180 books, principally but not exclusively on 18th-century British politics and international relations, and has been described by one commentator as "the most prolific historical scholar of our age". He has published on military and political history, including Warfare in the Western World, 1882–1975 (2001) and The World in the Twentieth Century (2002).

Reviews

[Didier "Dirac Ghost" Gaulin]

Within the range of more than 500 years of history, Black attempt to summarize such a wide range of information that it leaves one rather unsatisfied. The text tries to correct Kennedy's superiors thesis and ultimately falls flat, but the sole display of historical scope commanded by the author is still a joy to read, containing an inordinate amount of interesting bits of history, which I found interesting enough to finish the book.