The purpose of this volume is to explore the medieval inheritance of modern international relations. Recent years have seen a flourishing of work on the history of international political thought, but the bulk of this has focused on the early modern and modern periods, leaving continuities with the medieval world largely ignored. The medieval is often used as a synonym for the barbaric and obsolete, yet this picture does not match that found in relevant work in the history of political thought. The book thus offers a chance to correct this misconception of the evolution of Western international thought, highlighting that the history of international thought should be regarded as an important dimension of thinking about the international and one that should not be consigned to history departments.

William Bain is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore. His research engages questions of international political theory and Internationa Relations Theory, with a specific focus on the theological foundations of international relations.

1. The Medieval Contribution to Modern International Relations

[William Bain]

2. The Medieval and the International: A Strange Case of Mutual Neglect

[Nicholas Rengger]

3. Metaphysics and the Problem of International Order

[C.J.C Pickstock]

4. Secularism in Question: Hugo Grotius's 'Impious Hypothesis' Again

[Francis Oakley]

5. Between False-Universalism and Radical-Particularism: Thoughts on Thomas Hobbes and International Relations

[Joshua Mitchell]

6. The Medieval Roman and Canon Law Origins of International Law

[Joseph Canning]

7. Then and Now: The Medieval Conception of Just War Versus Recent Portrayals of the Just War Idea

[James Turner Johnson]

8. Humanitarian Intervention in a World of Sovereign States: The Grotian Dilemma

[James Muldoon]

9. The Medieval and Early Modern Legacy of Rights: The Rights to Punish and to Property

[Camilla Boisen and David Boucher]

10. International Relations and the 'Modern' Middle Ages: Rival Theological Theorisations of International Order

[Adrian Pabst]