Bringing theoretical and historical depth to the study of international relations, this book demonstrates that while shifts in military, economic, and other forms of material power cannot be overlooked, only ideas can explain how the world came to be organized into a system of sovereign states.

TABLES AND FIGURES ix PREFACE xi PART ONE: REVOLUTIONS IN SOVEREIGNTY 1 ONE Introduction: Revolutions in Sovereignty 3 TWO The Constitution of International Society 11 THREE A Brief History of Constitutions of International Society in the West 28 FOUR How Revolutions in Ideas Bring Revolutions in Sovereignty 46 PART TWO: THE FOUNDING OF THE SOVEREIGN STATES SYSTEM AT WESTPHALIA 73 FIVE Westphalia as Origin 75 SIX The Origin of Westphalia 97 SEVEN The Power of Protestant Propositions 123 PART THREE: THE REVOLUTION OF COLONIAL INDEPENDENCE: THE GLOBAL EXPANSION OF WESTPHALIA 151 EIGHT Ideas and the End of Empire 153 NINE The End of the British Empire: Cashing Out the Promise of Self-Government 168 TEN Revolutionary Ideas in the British Colonies 190 ELEVEN Britain's Burden of Empire 203 TWELVE The Fall of Greater France 220 PART FOUR: THE REVOLUTIONS CONSIDERED TOGETHER 251 THIRTEEN Conclusion: Two Revolutions, One Movement 253 NOTES 263 BIBLIOGRAPHY 309 INDEX 331

"Revolutions and Sovereignty is a cogently argued and superbly written book in which Daniel Philpott sets forth an original and provocative thesis. Challenging Realist and materialist interpretations of international relations, he makes an impressive case for the central role of ideas, particularly religious ideas, in shaping the nature of revolutions in the international state system beginning with the impact of Protestantism on the Westphalian settlement of 1648. This is a book which undoubtedly will stimulate much debate and which demands and deserves thoughtful attention at a time when that state system is in the midst of yet another revolutionary transformation."—Samuel Huntington, Harvard University

"Dan Philpott is a rising star in international relations, and this book demonstrates why. It is rich in historic detail, conceptually rigorous, bold, and written with felicity. The reader puts down Revolutions in Sovereignty with a keener sense of why ideas matter to the world of international politics, an arena often construed as a field of force in which ideas play an inconsequent role."—Jean Bethke Elshtain, University of Chicago, author of Women and War

"Revolutions in Sovereignty tells us how ideas have shaped the basic structure of international relations in the modern era. Before sovereign statehood became real, it became an ideal in the minds of the leaders and their followers who then made states sovereign. In explaining how this happened, Daniel Philpott brings original and insightful scholarship to bear on large and important issues."—Michael Doyle, Princeton University, author of Ways of War and Peace

Revolutions and Sovereignty is a cogently argued and superbly written book in which Daniel Philpott sets forth an original and provocative thesis. Challenging Realist and materialist interpretations of international relations, he makes an impressive case for the central role of ideas, particularly religious ideas, in shaping the nature of revolutions in the international state system beginning with the impact of Protestantism on the Westphalian settlement of 1648. This is a book which undoubtedly will stimulate much debate and which demands and deserves thoughtful attention at a time when that state system is in the midst of yet another revolutionary transformation. -- Samuel Huntington, Harvard University Dan Philpott is a rising star in international relations, and this book demonstrates why. It is rich in historic detail, conceptually rigorous, bold, and written with felicity. The reader puts down Revolutions in Sovereignty with a keener sense of why ideas matter to the world of international politics, an arena often construed as a field of force in which ideas play an inconsequent role. -- Jean Bethke Elshtain, University of Chicago, author of "Women and War" Revolutions in Sovereignty tells us how ideas have shaped the basic structure of international relations in the modern era. Before sovereign statehood became real, it became an ideal in the minds of the leaders and their followers who then made states sovereign. In explaining how this happened, Daniel Philpott brings original and insightful scholarship to bear on large and important issues. -- Michael Doyle, Princeton University, author of "Ways of War and Peace"