From Hierarchy to Anarchy: Territory and Politics before Westphalia

This book provides an erudite and fascinating account of the rise of territoriality in international relations. The physical extension of space is a taken-for-granted assumption of modern political and international theory; yet it has a history that needs to be registered and recognized. Larkins takes the reader on a tour that moves from the mental horizons of Medieval European thought through to the Renaissance. The end product is a theoretical and historical account of a momentous transformation that ultimately gives rise to the territorial state.