Introduction: 1. The presence of the past: imperialism and modes of historicity in international politics Klaus Schlichte and Stephan Stetter; Part I. The Imperial Past and Present in International Politics and IR: 2. Colonial origins – and legacies – of international organizations George Lawson; 3. Collective hegemony after decolonization: persistence despite delegitimation Thomas Müller; 4. The historicity of state formation: welfare services in Uganda and Cameroon Joël Glasman and Klaus Schlichte; 5. Privateering, colonialism and empires: on the forgotten origins of international order Benjamin de Carvalho and Halvard Leira; 6. Where did the Mongol empire go? The presences of a Eurasian steppe-nomadic past Einar Wigen and Iver B. Neumann; 7. Where would we be without the fog lifting in Austerlitz? Ruminations on the uses of history and sociology in IR Mathias Albert; Part II. Historical Sociology and the Imperial fundaments of international politics: 8. The afterlives of empires: notes toward an investigation George Steinmetz; 9. Divided world: encountering Frantz Fanon in Kabul Teresa Koloma Beck; 10. The Colonial origins of policing: the 'Domestic Effect' in the UK and the US Julian Go; Part III. Global History and the Imperial Fundaments of International Politics: 11. Unearthing the coloniality in the international through the genealogy of IR in Japan and beyond Tomoko Akami; 12. Was the rise of the 'Third World' a theory effect? International relations and the historicity of economic expertise Daniel Speich Chassé; 13. The past and its presence in Ottoman and post-Ottoman memory cultures: the battle of Kosovo and the status of Jerusalem Anna Vlachopoulou and Stephan Stetter; Concluding observations: 14. Conclusion: can historicism win over IR? Ayşe Zarakol.