Diplomatic Investigations has long been a rare book: hard to obtain, precious in content, yet distinctive for its enduring relevance and growing impact. As the Urtext of the 'English School' of international relations, it has long been an indispensable resource and an essential point of reference. Now armed with a richly illuminating introduction, the timely reissue of this classic collection will find new readers and inspire novel debates.
Sir Herbert Butterfield FBA was Regius Professor of History and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. As a British historian and philosopher of history, his works include: The Whig Interpretation of History (1931) and Origins of Modern Science (1949). His main interests were historiography, the history of science, 18th century constitutional history, Christianity, History, and International Politics.
Martin Wight was one of the most important British scholars on International Relations of the 20th century. He was Dean of the School of European Studies and a Professor of History the London School of Economics and the University of Sussex, where he served as the founding Dean of European Studies. Wight is often associated with the British committee on the theory of international politics and the so-called English School of International Relations.
Tim Dunne is Pro-Vice Chancellor at The University of Queensland, where he is also Professor of International Relations. He took up this role after a four-year term at the as the inaugural Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He has written and edited twelve books, including Inventing International Society: A History of the English School (1998); The Oxford Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect (co-edited with Alex J. Bellamy, 2016); The
Globalization of International Society (co-edited with Christian Reus-Smit in 2017). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Australia.
Ian Hall is a Professor in the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. He is also a member of the Griffith Asia Institute and an academic fellow of the Australia India Institute. He has written or edited six books, including Dilemmas of Decline: British Intellectuals and World Politics, 1945-1975 (2012) and The International Thought of Martin Wight (2006).