Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Torbjørn L. Knutsen is a Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Political Science, University of TrondheimTorbjørn L. Knutsen introduces ideas on international relations expressed by thinkers from High Middle Ages to the present day and traces the development of four ever-present themes: war, peace, wealth and power. The book counters the view that international relations has no theoretical tradition and shows that scholars, soldiers and statesmen have been speculating about the subject for the last 700 years.
Beginning with the roots of the state and the concept of sovereignty in the Middle Ages, the author draws upon the insights of outstanding political thinkers – from Machiavelli and Hobbes to Hegel, Rousseau, and Marx and contemporary thinkers such as Woodrow Wilson, Lenin, Morgenthau and Walt – who profoundly influenced the emergence of a discrete discipline of international relations in the twentieth century. Fully revised and updated, the final section embraces more recent approaches to the study of international relations, most notably postmodernism and ecologism.
Maps figures and tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Why a history of International Relations theory
1. Gods, sinners and the origins of IR theory
2. The roots of the modern
3.Guns, ships and printing presses
4. Absolutist politics
5. Enlightenment politics
6. Ideological politics
7. Intermezzo: becoming contemporary
8. Interwar politics
9. Cold War politics
10. Rembrances of things past - and future
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Torbjørn L. Knutsen introduces ideas on international relations expressed by thinkers from High Middle Ages to the present day and traces the development of four ever-present themes: war, peace, wealth and power. The book counters the view that international relations has no theoretical tradition and shows that scholars, soldiers and statesmen have been speculating about the subject for the last 700 years.
Beginning with the roots of the state and the concept of sovereignty in the Middle Ages, the author draws upon the insights of outstanding political thinkers. Clearly and succinctly the theories of Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hegel, Rousseau, Bentham, Marx and Lenin amongst others are discussed and analysed. The ideas of these thinkers are placed in context with the societies and intellectual ideas that produced them. The text is fully revised and updated to include the place of international relations after the Cold War and new ways of thinking opened up by developments in information technology.