Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975)

The chapter analyzes the international political thought of Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975). A highly prolific and long-lived public intellectual who went through phases of great celebrity and profound oblivion throughout the twentieth century, the British historian built a complex system of thought in which the role of civilizations was central not only in explaining millennia-old historical dynamics but also in analyzing twentieth-century international politics. The chapter examines both the philosophy of history and Toynbee's international theory, and, in particular, delves into the role attributed to civilizations in the dynamics of universal history. Moreover, after investigating the disruptive importance that religions gradually assume in the author's elaborated vision of the political order, the chapter offers a concise account of the scholarly (s)fortune that Toynbee garners in academic debate.