George Lawson

The 'long nineteenth century' (1776–1914) was a period of political, economic, military and cultural revolutions that re-forged both domestic and international societies. Neither existing international histories nor international relations texts sufficiently register the scale and impact of this 'global transformation', yet it is the consequences of these multiple revolutions that provide the material and ideational foundations of modern international relations. Global modernity reconstituted the mode of power that underpinned international order and opened a power gap between those who harnessed the revolutions of modernity and those who were denied access to them. This gap dominated international relations for two centuries and is only now being closed. By taking the global transformation as the starting point for international relations, this book repositions the roots of the discipline and establishes a new way of both understanding and teaching the relationship between world history and international relations.

The 'long nineteenth century' (1776–1914) was a period of political, economic, military and cultural revolutions that re-forged both domestic and international societies. Neither existing international histories nor international relations texts sufficiently register the scale and impact of this 'global transformation', yet it is the consequences of these multiple revolutions that provide the material and ideational foundations of modern international relations. Global modernity reconstituted the mode of power that underpinned international order and opened a power gap between those who harnessed the revolutions of modernity and those who were denied access to them. This gap dominated international relations for two centuries and is only now being closed. By taking the global transformation as the starting point for international relations, this book repositions the roots of the discipline and establishes a new way of both understanding and teaching the relationship between world history and international relations.

Straightforward histories of post-revolution States have all too often failed to provide sufficient context to rescue revolution, both as concept and practice, from the misplaced triumphalism of the contemporary world. In Negotiated Revolutions George Lawson marks a definitive departure in the study of radical political and socio-economic change, presenting a unique comparative analysis of three transformations from authoritarian rule to market democracy. Through the lens of international sociology the book critically considers the large scale processes of social and political revolution, bringing three apparently distinct transformations, from seemingly disparate authoritarian regimes and geographies, under a common rubric. With unique and novel conceptual analysis the book accurately locates both the potential and actuality of radical change in contemporary world affairs, processes usually mistakenly subsumed under the general framework of 'transitology'.

Lawson’s Politica is a systematic treatise on politics in church and state, and is arguably the most significant work of political theory to have been printed during the Restoration crisis of 1659–60. The work was widely discussed during the seventeenth century and its conceptual vocabulary applied in discussions of the Revolution of 1688–9, when it was also posthumously republished. Despite Lawson’s fame, however, his work fell into relative obscurity during the eighteenth century but it has recently been the subject of renewed scholarly interest. Politica has been reassessed as both historically and theoretically significant, and Lawson’s contextual and interpretative importance emphasised, as a writer who enriches our understanding of Hobbes and Locke. This new modern edition is the first to be based on, and to correct, the rare and badly printed edition of 1660 and the partially corrected edition of 1689. Containing full scholarly apparatus, it is designed to make this significant work accessible to students as well as specialists through a substantial introduction and notes, contextual material and bibliographical guide.

Lawson’s Politica is a systematic treatise on politics in church and state, and is arguably the most significant work of political theory to have been printed during the Restoration crisis of 1659–60. The work was widely discussed during the seventeenth century and its conceptual vocabulary applied in discussions of the Revolution of 1688–9, when it was also posthumously republished. Despite Lawson’s fame, however, his work fell into relative obscurity during the eighteenth century but it has recently been the subject of renewed scholarly interest. Politica has been reassessed as both historically and theoretically significant, and Lawson’s contextual and interpretative importance emphasised, as a writer who enriches our understanding of Hobbes and Locke. This new modern edition is the first to be based on, and to correct, the rare and badly printed edition of 1660 and the partially corrected edition of 1689. Containing full scholarly apparatus, it is designed to make this significant work accessible to students as well as specialists through a substantial introduction and notes, contextual material and bibliographical guide.