title: The Rise of Global Powers: International Politics in the Era of the World Wars
author:  Anthony D'Agostino 
description: "A fresh synthesis. This work incorporates the significant findings of the historical scholarship that has and is revising long-held previous interpretations. Rather than a discursive and disjointed account, it is a comprehensive, brilliantly coherent, insightful and fluent international history. A remarkable achievement." - Jon Jacobson, Professor of History Emeritus, University of California, Irvine<br /><br />"This highly original and readable account of Great Power imperial rivalries reveals lines of continuity and change not often addressed in books of more limited scope. D'Agostino's central thesis provides fresh insights into the course of both World Wars as well as their aftermath." -Dr Zara Steiner, Emeritus Fellow, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge<br /><br />"Drawing on an impressive range of sources, Anthony D'Agostino analyzes the collapse of the European balance of power and the emergence of a new world order in the era of the two world wars. The book is all the more timely now that the era of superpowers, whose rise he describes so well, seems to be coming to an end." -Professor David Kaiser, William B. Pratt Chair of Military History, US Naval War College<br /><br />"A fascinating new approach to the international politics of the interwar era that will be of enduring value to both students and scholars alike." -Professor Geoffrey Roberts, University College Cork<br /><br />"The Rise of Global Powers may become an influential work for scholars interested in the diplomacy of the twentieth century on its own merits, as well as researchers interested in the theoretical implications of modern international history." -Joshua Shifrinson, H-Diplo<br /><br />"Anthony D'Agostino's new book is a genuinely new and exciting take on the history of international relations in the first half of the twentieth century, and will be a very satisfying read for those calling for the discipline to finally overcome its Eurocentric perspective." -Jan Martin Lemnitzer, RUSI Journal
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  To the hero of the Second World War
  
  
  Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich starker - Friedrich Nietzsche
  
  
  CONTENTS
  
  
  ABOUT THE AUTHOR FOREWORD
  
  
  THE 20TH CENTURY HISTORICAL OUTLOOK Perspective
  
  
  The Two Aspects of History
  
  
  The Relativity of History
  
  
  The Meaning of Facts
  
  
  The Demise of the Linear View of History
  
  
  The Structure of History
  
  
  Pessimism
  
  
  The Civilization-Crisis Darwinism Marxism Freudianism
  
  
  The Scientific-Technical World-Outlook The Imperative of Our Age THE 20TH
  CENTURY POLITICAL OUTLOOK Introduction The Nature of Politics The War-Politics
  Symbiosis The Laws of Totality and Sovereignty The Pluralistic State
  
  
  The Law of Constancy of Inter-Organismic Power The Law of Constancy of Intra-
  Organismic Power The Political Pluriverse League of Nations
  
  
  The Inner Aspect of the Law of Sovereignty
  
  
  Political Organisms and War
  
  
  The Law of Political Plenum
  
  
  The Law of Protection and Obedience
  
  
  Internationale
  
  
  The Two P