Which of the following thinkers considered 'World Order' between people to be more fundamental and primordial than international order?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 3:

The correct answer is Hedley Bull. Hedley Bull (1932-1985), a leading figure of the English School of International Relations theory, is renowned for his work, particularly *The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics* (1977). Bull distinguished between two distinct, yet overlapping, concepts of order in global affairs: **international order** and **world order**. International order refers to the patterns of activity that sustain the primary goals of the society of states—that is, order maintained between political communities (states). In contrast, **world order** refers to those patterns of activity that promote the primary goals of humanity as a whole, focusing on individuals and humankind rather than just states. Bull argued that while international order (the maintenance of order among sovereign states) is necessary, it is not an end in itself; rather, it is subordinate to world order. He viewed world order—the order established among people, concerning justice, human rights, and minimum standards of welfare—as more **fundamental and primordial**. Bull held that the ultimate purpose of international society should be to serve the cosmopolitan goals of world society, implying that order among people is the deeper, more foundational basis of global stability and justice.

The incorrect option is 1:

C. G. Rosenberg is not a central figure known for distinguishing between 'world order' and 'international order' in the foundational way that Hedley Bull did. While scholars like Rosenberg may engage with contemporary global processes, their focus typically aligns with specific areas of political science or international political economy, which do not primarily center on the classical philosophical distinction between state-centric (international) and person-centric (world) forms of order. The core concept in the question relates to the English School's unique framework for understanding global society, a framework that Rosenberg’s work generally does not define. He is not credited with proposing 'world order' as the fundamental or primordial basis underlying 'international order'.

The incorrect option is 2:

John Naisbitt (1929-2021) was primarily a futurist and author, famous for works like *Megatrends*. His focus was on forecasting social, economic, and technological trends, such as the shift from industrial society to information society, or the movement towards a global economy. Naisbitt’s writings concentrated on large-scale changes driven by popular technology and cultural shifts, but they do not delve into the deep philosophical and political theory concerning the primordial nature of order in international relations. He was concerned with documenting modern trends and their consequences, rather than establishing a theoretical hierarchy between *international* order (state-based) and *world* order (people-based) as core concepts of political theory.

The incorrect option is 4:

George F. Kennan (1904-2005) was a highly influential American diplomat and historian, best known as the "father of containment," the strategy America adopted during the Cold War. Kennan’s primary intellectual contribution was to the theory and practice of Realism in foreign policy, focusing heavily on state power, geopolitical dynamics, and the containment of the Soviet threat. His work centered on the *international* state system, particularly the balancing of power and the behavior of major powers. While Kennan certainly wrote about order, his analysis was almost exclusively concerned with the order *among states* (international order) and how national interests dictated foreign policy, making him a figure squarely associated with state-centric realism, rather than the cosmopolitan notion of 'world order' being more fundamental than state-centric order.