PREFACE xi
PART I: CONTINGENCY, CHOICE, AND CONSTRAINT 9
Structural Change in International Relations 11
Neorealism and Its Critics: The Origins of the State as an Issue in International Relations 12
Variation in Units as Variation in Systems Structure 15
Unilinear Explanations of Change 18
The Fallacy of the Unilinear Evolutionary Image 20
Organizational Variation and Selection in the International System 22
A Nonlinear View of Evolutionary Change 22
A Proposed Causal Model for Explaining Institutional Variation and Selection 25
A Nonlinear Account of State Formation through War 29
Modes of Nonterritorial Organization: Feudalism, the Church, and the Holy Roman Empire 34
Feudalism: Rule by Personal Bonds 36
Universalist Claims of the Church 42
Conclusion 55
PART II: THE EMERGENCE OF NEW MODES OF ORGANIZATION 59
The Economic Renaissance of the Late Middle Ages 61
The Catalyst: The Expansion of Trade and the Growth of Towns 61
Imagining the Sovereign State 67
Conclusion 76
The Rise of the Sovereign, Territorial State in Capetian France 77
The Beginning of the French State: The Consolidation of the Capetian Dynasty (987-1328) 78
Why the Emergence of the French State Does Not Follow from the Character of Warfare 82
The Confluence of Material Interests of Monarchy and Towns 86
Shared Perspectives and Social Coalitions 102
Conclusion 105
The Fragmentation of the German Empire and the Rise of the Hanseatic League 109
The Northern Renaissance and the Impact of Long-distance Commerce 112
Reasons and Consequences of German Fragmentation 113
Structure and Objectives of the Hanseatic League: “Concordia Domi. Foris Pax” 122
Conclusion 128
The Development of the Italian City-states 130
The Impact of Italian Luxury Trade 130
Centrifugal Forces in the Italian Kingdom and the Absence of a Royal-urban Alliance 135
City-state Rather than City-league 142
City-state and Sovereign, Territorial State Compared 146
Conclusion 149
PART III: COMPETITION, MUTUAL EMPOWERMENT, AND CHOICE: THE ADVANTAGES OF SOVEREIGN TERRITORIALITY 151
The Victory of the Sovereign State 153
The Conventional Explanation: Darwinian Selection by War 155
Advantages of Sovereign Territoriality over the Confederated City-league 158
Fragmented Sovereignty in the Italian City-states 172
The General Nature of Institutional Selection 178
Conclusion 179
PART IV: CONCLUSION 181
Character, Tempo, and Prospects for Change in the International System 183
The Dynamics of Change in the International System 183
Possible Scenarios for Contemporary Change 188
NOTES 195
BIBLIOGRAPHY 265
INDEX 285