Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract Reflecting upon the preceding chapters, the conclusion answers the following questions: How does the book contribute to the study of status in world politics? What kind of research agenda does a theory-of-status framework enable that was hitherto foreclosed? Among the avenues opened up, the conclusion argues that a TIS approach provides a systematic means of analyzing change in international status hierarchies, by providing a framework for exploring the emergence, spread, contestation, and potential withering of specific theories of international status and examining these theories’ political consequences. The conclusion also responds to skeptics that may question whether the TIS approach refers to “real” status at all. It concludes with a counterintuitive policy implication of the book’s substance: that status ambiguity among states and publics is a social good to be cherished because it can mitigate zero-sum competitions.