Historiographical foundations of modern international thought

What is it about?

Part of a special forum on David Armitage's Foundations of Modern International Thought (2013), this article supplements Armitage by focusing on historiographies of the states-system. If Armitage focuses on Anglophone political and legal thought from Hobbes and Locke to Burke and Bentham, my article focuses on the empirico-historical writings of Bruni, Machiavelli, Sarpi, Pufendorf, Robertson and Heeren. Historiographical writings provided another foundation for modern international thought.

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Why is it important?

Students of International Relations have rarely if ever looked to historiographical writings to understand the origins of their subject. Part of what has been called the 'historiographical turn', this article shows how early modern developments in historiography contributed to the formation of 'international relations' as a distinctive field of enquiry. By introducing IR to the works of Bruni, Sarpi and Robertson and the historical writings of Pufendorf, the article brings new resources to IR.