Restraining Power

David C. Hendrickson

$34.95

Adding to cart… The item has been added
Author
David C. Hendrickson
Publish Date
2026-09-08
Book Type
Paperback
Publisher Name
Verso
Subject
Political Science
Subtitle
The Law of Nature and the Theory of International Relations
Number of Pages
352
ISBN-10
1836742460
ISBN-13
9781836742463
SKU
9781836742463

Description

Challenges dominant paradigms in international relations and reclaims an intellectual tradition essential for our time. For centuries, thinkers grappled with a fundamental question: how can sovereign states coexist without destroying each other? Restraining Power recovers a forgotten tradition that offered an answer—the "law of nature and nations" built on reciprocity, justice, and good faith. David C. Hendrickson excavates this vital framework for restraining state violence and shows why it matters now more than ever. All states, Hendrickson argues, have an interest in observing these principles, but few states have violated them more than the United States. He shows that in crossing these principles, US foreign policy has entered a destabilizing shadow world in which force and fraud seem normal.