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 Rosenberg shows how the historical-materialist analysis of societies is a surer guide to understanding geopolitical systems than the technical theories of realist international relations. In each case, he draws attention to the correspondence between the form of the geopolitical system and the character of the societies composing it.