Hobson, John M, Professor

Professor John M Hobson

Department of Politics and International Relations

Professor of Politics and International Relations

J.M.Hobson@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 1669

Modular Teaching Village

Full contact details

Professor John M Hobson
Department of Politics and International Relations
Modular Teaching Village
Northumberland Road
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S10 1AJ

Profile

Professor Hobson gained his PhD from the LSE (1991), joined the Department in 2004 as Reader and became Professor of Politics and International Relations in 2005. Previously he taught at La Trobe University, Melbourne (1991–97) and the University of Sydney (1997–2004).

His main research interest concerns the area of inter-civilizational relations and everyday political economy. His work is principally involved in carrying forward the critique of Eurocentrism in World History/Historical Sociology, International Relations and IPE.

Research interests

The critique of Eurocentrism: This forms the central theme of my work and as of 2015 forms the basis of 30 book chapters, 22 journal articles and 2 book monographs (2004, 2012).
Historiography of IR/IPE: I have has contributed to this area of research with my 2012 book and my 2-part article in Review of International Political Economy, which came out in the 20th anniversary issue: Vol. 20, No. 5 (2013): 1024–1081.
Global Historical Sociology of IR (GHSIR): I continue my interest in GHSIR, though since about 2000 I have combined this with my critique of Eurocentrism, both in empirical accounts of the rise of the West and of the development of world politics/economics, as well as in IR/IPE theory.

Current Research

I am currently working on a book that produces a non-Eurocentric analysis of the global political economy in the last 500 years.

Publications

Books

Hobson JM (2020) Multicultural Origins of the Global Economy' Beyond the Western-Centric Frontier. Cambridge University Press.
Hobson JM (2012) The Eurocentric Conception of World Politics: Western International Theory, 1760–2010. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hobson JM (2012) . Cambridge University Press.
Hobson JA, John M Hobson CT & Tyler C (2011) Selected Writing of John A. Hobson, 1932-1938. Taylor & Francis.
Hobson JM (2004) . Cambridge University Press.
(2001) . Cambridge University Press.
Layug A & Hobson JM () . Routledge.

Edited books

Hobson J & Tyler C (Ed.) (2011) . Taylor and Francis.

Journal articles

Hobson J & Zhang S (2022) . Global Studies Quarterly, 2(4), ksac074.
Hobson JM (2022) . Security Dialogue, 53(1), 3-20.
Hobson JM (2016) . International Politics, 53(5), 600-617.
Hobson JM (2016) . Postcolonial Studies, 19(2), 210-226.
Hobson JM (2015) . East Asia, 32(3), 239-255.
Hobson JM (2014) . Millennium, 42(3), 557-575.
Hobson (2014) . Global Discourse, 4(4), 459-461.
Hobson JM (2014) . Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 42(2), 485-514.
Hobson JM (2013) . REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY, 20(5), 1024-1054.
Hobson JM (2012) . Review of International Political Economy.
de Carvalho B, Leira H & Hobson JM (2011) . Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 39(3), 735-758.
Hobson JM (2011) . Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 40(1), 147-166.
Hobson JM (2010) Unravelling Gramsci: Hegemony and Passive Revolution in the Global Political Economy. POLIT STUD REV, 8(3), 383-384.
Hobson JM & Hall M (2010) . International Theory: a journal of international politics, law and philosophy, 2(2), 210-245.
Hobson JM (2009) . INT POLITICS, 46(6), 671-690.
Hobson JM (2009) . NEW POLIT ECON, 14(1), 149-153.
Pocock JGA, Hobson JM, Headley JM & Lukacs J (2008) . Historically Speaking, 9(7), 50-51.
Pocock JGA, Goldstone J, Fasolt C, Hobson JM, Headley JM & Lerner RE (2008) . Historically Speaking, 9(4), 50-53.
Hobson JM & Lawson G (2008) . MILLENNIUM-J INT ST, 37(2), 415-435.
Hobson JM (2007) . Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 20(4), 581-597.
Hobson JM (2007) . POLIT STUD-LONDON, 55(2), 271-273.
Hobson JM (2007) . International Politics, 44(4), 414-430.
Hobson JM (2007) . Historically Speaking, 9(2), 16-18.
Hobson JM (2006) . The Journal of the Historical Society, 6(4), 579-599.
Hobson J (2006) East and west in global history. THEOR CULT SOC, 23(2-3), 408-410.
Hobson JM & Sharman JC (2005) . EUR J INT RELAT, 11(1), 63-98.
Hobson JM (2005) . International Politics, 42(3), 372-380.
Hobson JM (2005) Eurocentrism and neorealism in the 'fall of Mann': Will the real Mann please stand up?. MILLENNIUM-J INT ST, 34(2), 517-527.

Chapters

Hobson JM (2022) , Globalizing International Theory (pp. 54-71). Routledge
Layug A & Hobson JM (2022) , Globalizing International Theory (pp. 1-30). Routledge
Hobson JM (2021) Why Britain Initiated an Iron and Steel Industrialisation and Why India (Mysore) and China Did Not, MULTICULTURAL ORIGINS OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY (pp. 353-392).
Hobson JM (2021) Varieties of Global Economy From Historical to Modern Capitalism, c. 1500-2020, MULTICULTURAL ORIGINS OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY (pp. 433-455).
Hobson JM (2021) The Global Atlantic Production Driver and the Imperial Primitive Accumulation of British Capital, MULTICULTURAL ORIGINS OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY (pp. 239-273).
Hobson JM (2021) The Afro-Indian Pivot (II) Entangled Agencies and the Power of Africans, Indians and West Asian Muslims, MULTICULTURAL ORIGINS OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY (pp. 110-129).
Hobson JM (2021) Multicultural Origins of the Second (Modern Capitalist) Global Economy Unveiling the 'Multicultural Contact Zone', c. 1850-c. 1940, MULTICULTURAL ORIGINS OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY (pp. 395-432).
Hobson JM (2021) Indian Merchant-Financial Capitalists Navigating beyond the Western-centric Sea Frontier, MULTICULTURAL ORIGINS OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY (pp. 151-164).
Hobson JM (2019) , Historiographical Investigations in International Relations (pp. 149-169). Springer International Publishing
Hobson JM (2019) WESTERN INTERNATIONAL THEORY, 1492-2010: PERFORMING WESTERN SUPREMACY AND WESTERN IMPERIALISM, EMPIRE AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (pp. 191-213).
Hobson JM (2015) Decolonising sovereignty: Globalisation and the return of hyper-sovereignty, The Concept of the State in International Relations: Philosophy, Sovereignty and Cosmopolitanism (pp. 135-162).
(2014) Palgrave Macmillan US
Hobson JM & Hall M (2013) , Liberal World Orders British Academy
Hobson JM (2012) , The Role of the Arab-Islamic World in the Rise of the West (pp. 84-115). Palgrave Macmillan UK
Hobson JM (2012) , Routledge Handbook of Asian Regionalism (pp. 46-57).
Hobson JM (2012) , Globalization and Development in East Asia (pp. 12-35).
Hobson JM & Seabrooke L (2009) Everyday international political economy, Routledge Handbook of International Political Economy (IPE): IPE as a Global Conversation (pp. 290-306).
Hobson JM (2009) What have the muslims ever done for us? Islamic origins of western civilization, The Challenge of Eurocentrism: Global Perspectives, Policy, and Prospects (pp. 217-235).
Hobson JM (2007) DECONSTRUCTING THE EUROCENTRIC CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS: DE-WESTERNIZING THE WEST BY ACKNOWLEDGING THE DIALOGUE OF CIVILIZATIONS, CIVILIZATIONAL IDENTITY: THE PRODUCTION AND REPRODUCTION OF CIVILIZATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (pp. 149-165).
Hobson JM (2006) , Global Standards of Market Civilization (pp. 60-76).
Hobson JM & Seabrooke L (2001) , Everyday Politics of the World Economy (pp. 196-213). Cambridge University Press
Hobson JM (2001) , Everyday Politics of the World Economy (pp. 141-159). Cambridge University Press
Hobson JM & Seabrooke L (2001) , Everyday Politics of the World Economy (pp. 1-24). Cambridge University Press
Hobson JM () , Max Weber and International Relations (pp. 143-171). Cambridge University Press
Hobson JM () , Global Historical Sociology (pp. 221-240). Cambridge University Press
() Routledge
Elias J, Hobson JM, Rethel L & Seabrooke L () , The Everyday Political Economy of Southeast Asia (pp. 239-260). Cambridge University Press
Hobson JM () , Paternalism beyond Borders (pp. 99-131). Cambridge University Press
Seth S () Routledge
Nederveen Pieterse J () Routledge
() Routledge
Brincat S () Routledge
Hobson JM () , The Global 1989 (pp. 23-50). Cambridge University Press
Hobson JM () , The SAGE Handbook of Comparative Politics (pp. 175-190). SAGE Publications Ltd
Hobson JM () , Critical International Relations Theory after 25 years (pp. 91-116). Cambridge University Press
() , An Anatomy of Power (pp. 150-166). Cambridge University Press

Book reviews

Hobson JM (2021) . The American Historical Review, 126(1), 269-270.
Hobson JM (2017) . Review of International Studies, 43(4), 581-601.

Conference proceedings papers

Hobson JM (2006) Revealing the cosmopolitan side of Oriental Europe The eastern origins of European civilisation. EUROPE AND ASIA BEYOND EAST AND WEST, Vol. 8 (pp 107-119)

Research group

I am keen to supervise promising research students in a range of areas including: Historical sociology of international relations, global political economy and especially civilisational analysis (East/West relations) in the context of the critique of Eurocentrism. I am currently supervising 4 PhD students.

Areas of past supervision include:

A social theory of the WTO (Jane Ford) Completed 2000
The Social Sources of Financial Power (Prof. Len Seabrooke) Completed 2003
State and Market in Korea (Shin Seung-hoon) Completed 2007
Reconstructing NATO after the Cold War (Yuke Abe) Completed 2009
Imperialism and the Globalisation of Production (John Smith) Completed 2010

Teaching interests

My teaching speaks directly to my own research, especially my inter-disciplinary focus on IR/IPE and global historical sociology, featuring both the theory and empirical practice of the world economy and global system; something that is traced in long-run historical perspective through to the present.

All three of my modules are based on a ‘pedagogical’ practice of ‘cumulative knowledge’, in which I begin with a range of key ideas that are then applied in different contexts as the module proceeds. This means that while students often find the first month challenging, by the second half they have understood the central theme that runs throughout.

I enjoy teaching and I seek to make my seminars open and informal principally to encourage lively debate among students; something which should be fun for all concerned. I was pleased to have been awarded the faculty teaching prize for teaching excellence at the University of Sydney in 1999.

His principal teaching commitments are currently:

POL111 The Politics of Globalisation
POL3005 Civilisation, Empire and Hegemony
POL6800 Theories and Issues in International Political Economy

Professional activities and memberships

Career Highlights

In July 2015 I became a Fellow of the British Academy.
In September 2015 I was interviewed for Theory Talks: ‘John M. Hobson on Eurocentrism, Historical Sociology and the curious case of Postcolonialism’, Theory Talks (No. 71).
Since July 2014 I have been co-editor (with Prof LHM Ling) of a new book series, 'Global Dialogues: Developing Non-Eurocentric IR and IPE' (Rowman & Littlefield International).
Alongside Cornelia Woll, I gave the , University of Warwick (7 March, 2013).
I have given 16 keynote lectures and public lectures around the world in: Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Korea, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Turkey, and the UK.
I was a Visiting Professor at The University of Panteion, Greece (July, 2015), and The University of Durham (December, 2006). I was the Harry Lyman Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor at McMaster University, Canada (March, 2014).
My 2012 book was awarded joint runner-up for the Francesco Guicciardini Award for best book in historical international relations (International Studies Association, 2014), and was shortlisted for the best book of the year by the Centre for Advanced International Theory, University of Sussex (2013).
I won the prize for best blog post, awarded by the website The Duck of Minerva (Outstanding Achievement in International Studies Web-blogging Award, 2013). This was for my blog post: ‘’.

Supervision Expertise

Race and Eurocentrism in IR, IPE, global history/historical sociology.

This comprises any issue related to the global economy or world politics. I'm also interested in non-Western IR theory.