Introduction

The Introduction to this Handbook charts the emergence and evolution of International Political Sociology (IPS) over the past two decades, describes the analytical terrain it has opened up, and outlines its considerable successes, both intellectual and political. We outline the structure and edges of IPS, questioning whether elements of its agenda could be further enhanced by an even broader engagement with sociological theories and approaches. To this end, the Introduction describes the core tenets of IPS in terms of its widely shared meta-foundations—relationalism, intersubjectivity, and historicism—and explores how these are brought to bear on analyses of orders, resistance, power, and agency.