International History
Summary
International history explores the political, social, economic and cultural interactions that have bound polities together across borders and eras. From the emergence of early diplomatic exchanges in antiquity through the evolution of nation-state systems, empire building and decolonisation, to the multilateral architecture of the post-1945 world, this field traces how ideas of sovereignty, legitimacy and community have been constructed, contested and reformed. It examines imperial rivalries and colonial encounters, the forging of alliances and rival blocs, the contentious politics of borders and migration, and the circulation of norms—such as human rights and economic liberalisation—that underpin today’s global order. By integrating diplomatic correspondence, legal frameworks, collective memories and material-cultural initiatives, international history reveals how local and regional developments have intersected with wider structural shifts in power, technology and ideology, yielding profound implications for contemporary governance, security and transnational solidarity.
Research from Nature Portfolio
Recent work has illustrated the enduring potency of nationalist narratives in shaping regional relations. One study of North and South Korea compares juche and anti-Great-Power-revering discourses, showing that both states deploy a shared “outward-looking” vision—emulating perceived successes of great powers even as they rally domestic support through exclusionary rhetoric. A complementary quantitative analysis of Roman imperial mortality has applied survival-analysis techniques to chart patterns of regicide, revealing a “bathtub-shaped” risk curve for emperors that underscores structural dynamics of political instability and the performative role of violence in sustaining autocratic authority.
International History publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in international history across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Sovereignty: The principle that a state possesses supreme authority within its territory and is free from external interference.
Soft power: The capacity of a state or actor to shape preferences and influence others through cultural attraction, communication and agenda-setting rather than coercion.
Transnationalism: Analytical focus on social, cultural and political processes that transcend national boundaries, emphasising networks and flows among multiple polities.
Hegemony: A hierarchical ordering of power in which a leading state or coalition sets rules and norms that subordinate other actors.
Collective memory: Shared representations of past events that inform group identity and shape contemporary political discourse.
Transnational solidarity: Cooperative networks and exchanges across borders that align diverse actors behind shared political or humanitarian objectives.
References
- Dueling nationalisms in North and South Korea. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2019).
- Statistical reliability analysis for a most dangerous occupation: Roman emperor. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2019).
- Tipu and the Turks: An Islamicate Embassy in the Age of British Expansion. Itinerario (2023).
- People, Paper and Power: The Birth of the Passport in International Law. Asian Journal of International Law (2023).
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