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The myth of 1648: class, geopolitics and the making of modern international relations

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posted on 2023-06-07, 17:39 authored by Benno TeschkeBenno Teschke
This book rejects a commonplace of European history: that the treaties of Westphalia not only closed the Thirty Years’ War but also inaugurated a new international order driven by the interaction of territorial sovereign states. Benno Teschke, through this thorough and incisive critique, argues that this is not the case. Domestic ‘social property relations’ shaped international relations in continental Europe down to 1789 and even beyond. The dynastic monarchies that ruled during this time differed from their medieval predecessors in degree and form of personalization, but not in underlying dynamic. 1648, therefore, is a false caesura in the history of international relations. For real change we must wait until relatively recent times and the development of modern states and true capitalism. In effect, it’s not until governments are run impersonally, with no function other than the exercise of its monopoly on violence, that modern international relations are born.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Publisher

Verso

Pages

308.0

ISBN

9781859846933

Department affiliated with

  • International Relations Publications

Notes

Winner of the 2003 Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize; translated into German (Mythos 1648: Klassen, Geopolitik und die Entstehung des europäischen Staatensystems) (2007), Japanese (Kindai kokka taikei no keisei: uesutofaria no shinwa (2008), and Russian (??? ? 1648 ????: ?????, ??????????? ? ???????? ??????????? ????????????? ?????????) (2011)

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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