Political wisdom holds that the political boundaries of a state necessarily coincide with a nation's perceived cultural boundaries, but sociocultural diversity increasingly renders this view obsolete. The 'state-nation' is a concept that seeks to accommodate distinct ethnic & cu…
What explains the rapid growth of state power in early modern Europe? While most scholars have pointed to the impact of military or capitalist revolutions, Philip S. Gorski argues instead for the importance of a disciplinary revolution unleashed by the Reformation.
What are the causes of war? Waltz probes the ideas that thinkers throughout the history of Western civilisation - including St. Augustine, Hobbes, Kant, & Spinoza - have offered to explain the reasons for men & related prescriptions for peace.
"Fukuyama begins State-Building with an account of the broad importance of "stateness." He rejects the notion that there can be a science of public administration and discusses the causes of contemporary state weakness. He ends the book with a discussion of the consequences of w…
"Fukuyama begins State-Building with an account of the broad importance of "stateness." He rejects the notion that there can be a science of public administration and discusses the causes of contemporary state weakness. He ends the book with a discussion of the consequences of w…
Annotation
"Foundations of Public Law offers a distinctive, provocative theory of public law, building on the views first outlined in The Idea of Public Law (OUP, 2003). The theory aims to identify the essential character of public law, explain its particular modes of operation, and specif…
"The book looks at the profound changes across the political landscape from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the re-emergence of China and at how such events have altered the received ideas that define political cultures throughout the world." "This analysis includes a detailed ex…
'States in Disguise' builds a rigorous theoretical framework within which to study the complex and fluid network of relationships between states and rebel groups, including ethnic and religious insurgents, revolutionary groups, and terrorists.
Why are some nations rich and others poor? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of the right policies? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and eco…
"Public international law has embarked on a new chapter. Over the past century, the classical model of international law, which emphasized state autonomy and interstate relations, has gradually ceded ground to a new model. Under the new model, a state's sovereign authority arise…
Identities are not something we are born with, Hall argues, but are formed and transformed in the discourses of nation, ethnicity, and race. Casting his glance over the modern age, he shows how the imperial view of civilized-versus-barbarian gave way to a politics of identificat…
"Rodrik takes globalization's cheerleaders to task, not for emphasizing economics over other values, but for practicing bad economics and ignoring the discipline{u2019}s own nuances that should have called for caution. He makes a case for a pluralist world economy where nation-s…