Prof George Lawson

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 three books: Anatomies of Revolution (2019), Negotiated Revolutions: The Czech Republic, South Africa and Chile (2005), and On Revolutions: Unruly Politics in the Contemporary World (2022), co-authored with Colin Beck, Mlada Bukavansky, Erica Chenoweth, Sharon Nepstad and Daniel Ritter. I am currently 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.

• Processes of radical change, especially revolutions.
• Historical Sociology, especially analysis of global modernity.
• International Relations theory, especially the relationship between history and IR.

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.

• Oxford Handbook of International Political Sociology (1-2 years)
• Modes of Power (2-3 years)
• Liberalism and Revolution (5 years)