Overview

This text studies the future of the nation-state as the world's basic political organization and the foundation of modern international relations. The author argues that this Hegelian construct - once championed as the rational and preferred basis for global order - developed through a series of dichotomies: the cut and thrust of realism mediated by idealism; coercive power politics balanced by a constitutive mode of power; and a collaborative search for a just society. The book analyses the conceptualisation of the nation-state in the Western tradition of political thought, from the classical bifurcation of politics to the postmodern debate about the nation-state as the ideal mechanism for organizing power in a new global age.

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9780739103500

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Reviews

Dichotomy of Power brings the wisdom of political theory to bear on contemporary discussions of world order and international affairs. . . . The book will surely force scholars to rethink conventional narratives of international relations as a tradition and discipline, and provide deep intellectual resources for making sense of the world order challenges ahead.--Wapner, Paul

This wide-ranging and illuminating study maps key ideas in the tradition of Western political thought. It is essential reading for all those fascinated by the political philosophy of the nation-state -- Doyle, Michael W. Dichotomy of Power brings the wisdom of political theory to bear on contemporary discussions of world order and international affairs... The book will surely force scholars to rethink conventional narratives of international relations as a tradition and discipline, and provide deep intellectual resources for making sense of the world order challenges ahead. -- Wapner, Paul

Author Information

Richard A. Matthew is Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of California, Irvine. He is the coeditor (with Daniel H. Deudney) of Contested Grounds: Security and Conflict in the New Environmental Politics (1999).

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