The Empire of Civil Society: A Critique of the Realist Theory of International Relations

The Empire of Civil Society mounts a compelling critique of the orthodox “realist” theory of international relations and provides a historical-materialist approach to the international system.

Opening with an interrogation of a number of classic realist works, the book rejects outright the goal of theorizing 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 Ro...