The Sovereign State and Its Competitors: An Analysis of Systems Change

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...