Playing the game of sovereign states: Charles Manning's constructivism avant-la-lettre

This article analyses C. A. W. Manning's The Nature of International Society (NIS) by exploring the constructivist insights avant-la-lettre displayed in this not so prominent opus on international society. The article's objective is twofold. First, to re-establish Manning's argument, which has been distorted by its successors. That is to say, whereas often identified as a source of inspiration by subsequent generations of English School academics, the British mainstream at the same time appears to have missed out on Manning's more metatheoretical, socio-linguistic insights. By exploring his message about the link between knowledge, language, meaning and reality, this article secondly addresses the added value of Manning's work in terms of his analysis of the metaphor of sovereignty games. It is argued that, particularly in the analysis of the constitutive role of language, NIS provides useful insights for the reconvention project of the English School.