Description

Book Synopsis
The Empire of Civil Society rejects outright the goal of theorising geopolitical systems in isolation from wider social structures. In a series of case studies - including Classical Greece, Renaissance Italy and the Portuguese and Spanish empires - Justin Rosenberg shows how his historical-materialist analysis is a surer guide to understanding geopolitical systems than the supposedly timeless verities of realism.

Rosenberg demonstrates that the distinctive properties of the sovereign-state system are best understood as corresponding to the framework of capitalist society. In this light, realism emerges as incapable of explaining what it has always insisted is the central feature of the interstate order - the balance of power.

Winner of the 1994 Deutscher Memorial Prize

The Empire of Civil Society

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    A Paperback by Justin Rosenberg

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      Publisher: Verso Books
      Publication Date: 1/26/2024
      ISBN13: 9781804295977, 978-1804295977
      ISBN10: 1804295973
      Also in:
      Sociology and anthropology

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      The Empire of Civil Society rejects outright the goal of theorising geopolitical systems in isolation from wider social structures. In a series of case studies - including Classical Greece, Renaissance Italy and the Portuguese and Spanish empires - Justin Rosenberg shows how his historical-materialist analysis is a surer guide to understanding geopolitical systems than the supposedly timeless verities of realism.

      Rosenberg demonstrates that the distinctive properties of the sovereign-state system are best understood as corresponding to the framework of capitalist society. In this light, realism emerges as incapable of explaining what it has always insisted is the central feature of the interstate order - the balance of power.

      Winner of the 1994 Deutscher Memorial Prize

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