Early modern international societies beyond Europe were based on shared sets of beliefs that differed dramatically from Western views regarding the nature of the material and social world. However, the encounter of the West with non-European international societies was not an encounter between two rigidly defined static systems. Instead, both Western and non-Western polities redefined their identities as well as the political-social expression of those identities in the dyadic encounter.

Contrary to views that these non-Westphalian polities could not adjust to material and conceptual changes, fundamental transformations occurred throughout the non-European international societies.The encounter between the universalist empires and the Western polities introduced new perspectives of inclusion and exclusion and influenced both parties. Studying collective beliefs not only provides a means to examine different patterns of international order but also serves as a mirror to contemporary preconceptions of international relations. Imputing the Western nation-state as the normal pattern of political organization leads to a process of normation---the attempt to impose that form of political community on others. Historical reflection reveals that international relations hardly consist of immutable patterns of behavior. While material conditions play an important role, the modalities through which individuals and social groups understand these phenomena occur against the template of a shared collective consciousness. Collective beliefs form a critical component for explaining state policies and are themselves independent sources of power.