Revolutions in Sovereignty: How Ideas Shaped Modern International Relations

"This convincing portrait show how power and ideas together shape international relations."—John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

"Revolutions and Sovereignty is a cogently argued and superbly written book in which Daniel Philpott sets forth an original and provocative thesis. Challenging Realist and materialist interpretations of international relations, he makes an impressive case for the central role of ideas, particularly religious ideas, in shaping the nature of revolutions in the international state system beginning with the impact of Protestantism on the Westphalian settlement of 1648. This is a book which undoubtedly will stimulate much debate and which demands and deserves thoughtful attention at a time when that state system is in the midst of yet another revolutionary transformation."—Samuel Huntington, Harvard University

"Dan Philpott is a rising star in international relations, and this book demonstrates why. It is rich in historic detail, conceptually rigorous, bold, and written with felicity. The reader puts down Revolutions in Sovereignty with a keener sense of why ideas matter to the world of international politics, an arena often construed as a field of force in which ideas play an inconsequent role."—Jean Bethke Elshtain, University of Chicago, author of Women and War

"Revolutions in Sovereignty tells us how ideas have shaped the basic structure of international relations in the modern era. Before sovereign statehood became real, it became an ideal in the minds of the leaders and their followers who then made states sovereign. In explaining how this happened, Daniel Philpott brings original and insightful scholarship to bear on large and important issues."—Michael Doyle, Princeton University, author of Ways of War and Peace