How do we make sense of a global order that seems to be fracturing and rewriting itself every single day? In mainstream International Relations (IR), scholars traditionally view the global order through a macro lens of states, statesmen, and systemic power balances. However, what happens if we look closer? The "international" is actually constructed, maintained, and disrupted by a heterogeneous network of human actors and non-human objects alike.Assembling the Global provides an introductory framework for applying Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to global politics. Drawing on the foundational philosophies of Bruno Latour, John Law, and Michel Callon, this text introduces a flat ontology to IR, arguing that power is not an inherent trait of states but a highly contingent result of socio-material assemblages.Inside this book, you will discover: A New Analytical Paradigm: Move past the traditional state-centric lenses by applying a flat ontology directly to International Relations.Socio-Material Assemblages: Learn how human actors, technology, and material infrastructures intersect symmetrically to construct and disrupt the global order.Theory Meets Empirics: Understand the philosophies of Latour, Law, and Callon through chapters that pair theoretical insights with concrete, real-world case studies.Bridging rigorous philosophical theory with striking, real-world applications, this monograph breaks down traditional macro-micro dualisms. The ANT approach grants equivalent conceptual weight to the human and material worlds.Useful for scholars interested in international relations, this book is more than an academic argument. It is a profound call to methodological conversion-inviting you to trace the tangled network of the global order and reimagine IR "after the social."
