His research interests cover theories of international relations; theories of global governance; the history of thought on international relations; comparative regionalism; and the international relations of the Americas, with particular reference to Brazil. In a recent survey of International Relations teaching and research in 20 countries he was one of only two non-US scholars listed as having produced the most interesting scholarship over the past five years.
Hurrell is an expert on Brazil and has authored a large number of works on Latin American politics. He is a leading theorist of the 'International Society' approach pioneered at the London School of Economics (LSE) and Oxford by Hedley Bull, and has published widely on a vast range of international issues, from the United Nations and humanitarian intervention to international law. His current research project involves comparing the policies and outlooks of emerging regional powers such as Brazil and India, asking what their role in the shifting world order is likely to be.[1]
His current work focuses on emerging powers and the globalization of international society and what this means for ideas and practices of global order, for IR theory, and for international normative theory. Collaborative projects include concerts of power in the 21st century; provincializing Westphalia; and ASEAN integration through law. On the topic of globalization, he has recorded an interview at the Einstein Foundation Berlin on how to correspond to it politically.[3] He is also completing a short introduction to global governance.[1]
Selected publications
(edited with Benedict Kingsbury), International Politics of the Environment: Actors, Interests, and Institutions (Clarendon Press, 1992)
(edited with Louise Fawcett), Regionalism in World Politics: Regional Organization and International Order (Oxford University Press, 1995)
(edited with Ngaire Woods), Inequality, Globalization, and World Politics (Oxford University Press, 1999)
(edited with Kai Alderson), Hedley Bull On International Society (Macmillan, 2000)
(edited with Rosemary Foot and John Lewis Gaddis), Order and Justice in International Relations (Oxford University Press, 2003)
On Global Order. Power, Values, and the Constitution of International Society (Oxford University Press, 2007), winner of International Studies Association Prize for Best Book in the field of International Relations