Origins of modern international political thought

This research on the history of international political thought focuses on the emergence of distinctively modern ideas about the balance of power, the 'grading of powers' and public international law in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The research draws on two main sources: early modern journalism and collections of treaties. The premise is that these developed in combination with the emergence of a new public sphere in north western Europe, centered on the Netherlands, France and England.

The research suggests that this was a crucial, and largely neglected, juncture in international intellectual history.