Opening with an interrogation of a number of classic realist works, the book rejects outright the goal of theorizing geopolitical systems in isolation from wider social structures. In a series of case studies-including Classical Greece, renaissance Italy and the Portuguese and Spanish Empires-Justin Rosenberg shows how the historical-materialist analysis of societies is a surer guide to understanding geopolitical systems than the technical theories of realist international Relations.

Justin Rosenberg is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex. He is the author of The Follies of Globalisation Theory: Polemical Essays.