In the current era we have the ability to wage global war, interact economically and culturally with any part of the world, and communicate with each other in real time. Our horizons are now global. Time and space have contracted. This text takes the change in our horizons as a key feature of modern international relations, examining how international politics and the relations between nations and states have become global politics.

Rather than survey a large array of issues and theories, Spruyt provides students with particular "tools of the trade" and with different perspectives to understand given empirical puzzles. Each section of the book discusses key theories, which may be useful in understanding the issues in question, and then applies them to empirical cases in order to demonstrate how theory relates to practice. Case studies allow for both an historical and comparative approach.