A Genealogy of Sovereignty

by Jens Bartelson

• ISBN13: 9780521478885
• ISBN10: 052147888X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-04-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The concept of sovereignty is central to international relations theory and theories of state formation, and provides the foundation of the conventional separation of modern politics into domestic and international spheres. In this book Jens Bartelson provides a critical analysis and conceptual history of sovereignty, dealing with this separation as reflected in philosophical and political texts during three periods: the Renaissance, the Classical Age, and Modernity. He argues that the concept of sovereignty and its place within political discourse are conditioned by philosophical and historiographical discontinuities between the periods, and that sovereignty should be regarded as a concept contingent upon, rather than fundamental to, political science and its history.

Author Biography

Jens Bartelson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Stockholm

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction: sovereignty and fire	1	(11)
The problem: deconstructing sovereignty	12	(41)
Beyond subject and structure: towards a genealogy of sovereignty	53	(35)
Inventing outsides: proto-sovereignty, exempla and the general theory of the state in the Renaissance	88	(49)
How policy became foreign: sovereignty, mathesis and interest in the Classical Age	137	(49)
Reorganizing reality: sovereignty, modernity and the international	186	(51)
Conclusion: the end of sovereignty?	237	(12)
Notes	249	(44)
Bibliography	293	(21)
Index	314