George Lawson
Research interests
- Processes of radical change, especially revolutions.
- Historical Sociology, especially analysis of global modernity.
- International Relations theory, especially the relationship between history and IR.
Biography
My work is oriented around the relationship between history and theory, with a particular interest in global historical sociology.
I apply this interest to the study of revolutions in two books: Anatomies of Revolution (2019) and Negotiated Revolutions: The Czech Republic, South Africa and Chile (2005). I am currently completing a co-authored book, with Colin Beck, Mlada Bukavansky, Erica Chenoweth, Sharon Nepstad and Daniel Ritter, provisionally entitled The Evolution of Revolution. Beyond this, I am in the planning stages (emphasis on planning) of a project on the long-term relationship between liberalism and revolution.
I also apply my interest in history-theory to debates around global modernity, most notably in a book (co-authored with Barry Buzan) that charts the ways in which a range of important dynamics in contemporary international relations have their roots in the 19th century ‘global transformation’. Barry and I are in the early stages of a sequel to this project, tentatively entitled, Modes of Power.
More details of my work can be found on my CV … here.
Researcher's projects
- The Evolution of Revolution (1-2 years)
- Modes of Power (2-3 years)
- Oxford Handbook of International Political Sociology (2-3 years)
- Liberalism and Revolution (5 years)
Available student projects
I have supervised projects ranging from intervention to everyday forms of protest, British counter-terrorism to global cities, Russian stigmatisation to US imperialism. So please get in touch to talk things through.
That said, there are two themes I am most interested in:
- Historical International Relations and historical sociology.
- Revolutions, and unruly politics more generally.
Publications
- Buzan, B & Lawson, G 2020, 'China through the lens of modernity', Chinese Journal of International Politics, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 187-217.
- Lawson, G 2019, Anatomies of Revolution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- Go, J & Lawson, G, eds, 2017, Global Historical Sociology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- Lawson, G 2016, 'Within and beyond the "fourth generation" of revolutionary theory', Sociological Theory, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 106-127.
- Buzan, B & Lawson, G 2015, The Global Transformation: History, Modernity and the Making of International Relations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- Lawson, G 2015, 'Revolutions and the international', Theory and Society, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 299-319.
- Lawson, G 2015, 'Revolution, non-violence, and the Arab uprisings', Mobilization, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 453-470.
- Buzan, B & Lawson, G 2014, 'Rethinking benchmark dates in international relations', European Journal of International Relations, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 437-462.