Using the concept of 'incomplete contracts' - agreements that are intentionally ambiguous and subject to renegotiation, this title explains how states divide and transfer their sovereign territory and functions, and demonstrates why some of these arrangements offer stable and lasting solutions while others ultimately collapse.
The present international system, composed for the most part of sovereign, territorial states, is often viewed as the inevitable outcome of historical development. Hendrik Spruyt argues that there was nothing inevitable about the rise of the state system, however. Examining the competing institutions that arose during the decline of feudalism--among them urban leagues, independent communes, city states, and sovereign monarchies--Spruyt disposes of the familiar claim that the superior size and war-making ability of the sovereign nation-state made it the natural successor to the feudal system.The author argues that feudalism did not give way to any single successor institution in simple linear fashion. Instead, individuals created a variety of institutional forms, such as the sovereign, territorial state in France, the Hanseatic League, and the Italian city-states, in reaction to a dramatic change in the medieval economic environment. Only in a subsequent selective phase of institutional evolution did sovereign, territorial authority prove to have significant institutional advantages over its rivals. Sovereign authority proved to be more successful in organizing domestic society and structuring external affairs. Spruyt's interdisciplinary approach not only has important implications for change in the state system in our time, but also presents a novel analysis of the general dynamics of institutional change.
We live in a period of uncertainty about the fate of America's global leadership. Many believe that Donald Trump's presidency marks the end of liberal international order-the very system of global institutions, rules, and values that shaped the international system since the end of World War II. Exit from Hegemony, Alexander Cooley and Daniel Nexon develop a new approach to understanding the rise and decline of hegemonic orders. They identify three ways in which the liberal international order is transforming. The Trump administration, declaring "America First," accelerates all three processes, lessening America's position as a world power.
A penetrating look into the unrecognized and unregulated links between autocratic regimes in Central Asia and centers of power and wealth throughout the West
Spruyt explains how collective belief systems influenced the political order in three non-European societies c.1500-1900, and the way in which these polities engaged the Western colonial empires. The inter-disciplinary approach of this book will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, historical sociology and global history.
Spruyt has written an outstanding text that leaves students informed and motivated, while at the same time providing splendidly balanced coverage of multiple issue areas and approaches. - Colin Elman, Maxwell School, Syracuse University