A01=Hendrik Spruyt
Agency (sociology)
Aristocracy
Author_Hendrik Spruyt
Bourgeoisie
Calculation
Capetian dynasty
Capitalism
Category=JPA
Category=JPHC
Central Authority
City-state
Clergy
Crown land
De facto
Decentralization
Defection
Duchy
Economics
Economy
Elite
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Exaction
Feudalism
German Emperor
German Prince
Government
Grand strategy
Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Empire
Hundred Years' War
Institution
International relations
Investiture Controversy
Italian city-states
Jurisdiction
Kingdom of Germany
Late Middle Ages
Military technology
Monarchy
Nation state
Neorealism (international relations)
Nobility
Northern Italy
Political alliance
Political entrepreneur
Political organization
Political system
Politics
Pope
Principality
Prussia
Regalian right
Right to property
Roman Law
Ruler
Social group
Sovereign state
Sovereignty
State formation
Superiority (short story)
Tax
Technology
Territorial state
The Sovereign State
Theocracy
Trade route
Treaty
Urbanization
Usury
Vassal
War
Warfare
Wealth
Westphalian sovereignty
Product details
- ISBN 9780691029108
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 11 Aug 1996
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The present international system, composed for the most part of sovereign, territorial states, is often viewed as the inevitable outcome of historical development. Hendrik Spruyt argues that there was nothing inevitable about the rise of the state system, however. Examining the competing institutions that arose during the decline of feudalism--among them urban leagues, independent communes, city states, and sovereign monarchies--Spruyt disposes of the familiar claim that the superior size and war-making ability of the sovereign nation-state made it the natural successor to the feudal system. The author argues that feudalism did not give way to any single successor institution in simple linear fashion. Instead, individuals created a variety of institutional forms, such as the sovereign, territorial state in France, the Hanseatic League, and the Italian city-states, in reaction to a dramatic change in the medieval economic environment. Only in a subsequent selective phase of institutional evolution did sovereign, territorial authority prove to have significant institutional advantages over its rivals.
Sovereign authority proved to be more successful in organizing domestic society and structuring external affairs. Spruyt's interdisciplinary approach not only has important implications for change in the state system in our time, but also presents a novel analysis of the general dynamics of institutional change.
Hendrik Spruyt is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University.
