Stability without statehood : lessons from Europe's history before the sovereign state / Peter Haldén.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Haldén, Peter.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

State, The.

State, The--History.

History.

Republicanism--History.

Republicanism.

Republicanism--History--Case studies.

Political stability--History.

Political stability.

Political stability--History--Case studies.

Holy Roman Empire--History--1648-1804.

Holy Roman Empire.

United States--Politics and government--1783-1865.

United States.

Politics and government.

European Union--History.

European Union.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

ix, 223 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Summary:

The way the sovereign state is taken for granted in political theory prevents an explanation of historical and contemporary organizations and phenomena different from this ideal type. Peter Haldén bypasses the state and the problems it causes by constructing an understanding of politics and a research model based on classical and early modern republican political theory. This enables historical analysis without anachronism and a new interpretation of the European Union. By comparing the EU with the Holy Roman Empire (1648-1763) and the antebellum United States (1776-1865), the author explains that the EU's international weakness is a result of its strength as a security system that stabilizes Europe. He argues that continued American support and embedding in NATO is necessary in order for the EU to act on the world stage and to stabilize Europe in the long run. Through these theoretical innovations, he explores alternatives to state-building in the Third World. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Fiction of the State as the Good, Natural and the Beautiful 7

1.1 The state from prescriptive polemics to a descriptive grid 7

1.2 Rule, rules and relations before states: republican systems theory 18

1.3 Giving shape to action: forms of rule 23

1.4 Viability and survival 26

2 Remedies: The Neglected Heritage of Republicanism 31

2.1 Republican theories of world politics 31

2.2 Republics evade the spectrum states-system of states 35

2.3 The ideal type of the compound republic 39

2.4 Compound republics in world politics 48

3 A Long-lived Republic: The Holy Roman Empire 1648-1763 51

3.1 A neglected Methuselah 51

3.2 The Holy Roman Empire as a compound republic 54

3.3 The Holy Roman Empire and systems in the environment 67

3.4 The Holy Roman Empire in world politics 72

4 A Solitary Republic: The United States of America 1776-1865 92

4.1 Self-evident truths? 92

4.2 Towards the new world 95

4.3 The United States as a republican form of rule 97

4.4 The Empire of Liberty 109

5 A Shielded Republic: The European Union 1957-2010 119

5.1 Great expectations: the European Union as a compound republic 119

5.2 The European Union and systems in the environment 131

5.3 The European Union in world politics 1992-2010 140

6 Republican Commonwealths versus State-Building 164

6.1 Leviathan's travels 164

6.2 The coup d'état of the state in contemporary security 167

6.3 Republican security analysis and historical analogies 169

6.4 Republican commonwealths 177.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780230273559

0230273556

OCLC:

706020218