Still the English patient? Closures and inventions in the English school.

Books reviewed in this article: Barry Buzan and Richard Little, International systems in world history: remaking the study of International . Tim Dunne, Inventing international society: a history of the English school . V, The global covenant: human conduct in a world of states . Maurice Keens-Soper, Europe in the world: the persistence of power politics . Over the past twenty years, the English school's approach to the study of International Relations has attracted an increasing number of adherents and exponents. Critics, however, have continued to question not only its coherence, but also the idea of the school itself. This article explores the changing understandings of the English school, and notes the theoretical innovations introduced by three contemporary English scholars. The work of two others, both of whom espouse the ‘classical approach’ often identified with the English school, is also examined in an attempt to assess the health of a school widely considered to be gaining strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]