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'Things that were once permitted are now forbidden'2
Introduction
Efforts to build connections between historical sociology, analyses of world history and the study of long-term processes of change in global politics are at the forefront of current scholarship in International Relations (Buzan and Little, 2000; Denemark et al., 2000; Hobden and Hobson, 2002). Norbert Elias's sociological analysis of 'the civilizing process' -- the process by which modern European societies have become pacified over the last four centuries and emotional identification between the members of each society has increased -- has much to contribute to historical-sociological approaches to International Relations. However, Elias's writings have been largely neglected by Anglo-American students of International Relations,3 and there has been no detailed examination to date of the importance of his work for attempts to strengthen links with historical sociology.4
Among sociologists of his generation, Elias was unusual in recognizing the importance of international relations for the wider social sciences, but he did not write extensively on world politics or display an acquaintance with the central literature.5 Many of his comments on relations between states will be familiar to students of international relations. This is especially true of his realist observation that 'elimination contests' will dominate world politics as long as independent political communities are locked in the struggle for power and security in the condition of anarchy. But it is important to look beyond such Hobbesian themes in Elias's thought to his comments about dominant attitudes towards cruelty, violence and human suffering in different eras for insights that can enrich historical-sociological approaches to international relations. Elias raised the question of whether the civilizing process had influenced the evolution of the modern international system. This was an underdeveloped area of his research, and one that can obviously profit from engaging with the academic study of international relations, and especially with English School, constructivist and legal approaches to principles and norms in world politics, which echo Elias's principal sociological concerns.6 This paper concentrates on the significance of Elias's analysis of the civilizing process for efforts to develop the sociology of systems of states that Wight outlined in his pioneering essays in this area (see Wight, 1979). Attention will be paid to Hobbesian and Grotian...