The invention of Hobbesian anarchy
| Date | 01 October 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1755088217720471 |
| Published date | 01 October 2017 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1755088217720471
Journal of International Political Theory
2017, Vol. 13(3) 296 –310
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1755088217720471
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The invention of
Hobbesian anarchy
Theodore Christov
The George Washington University, USA
Abstract
It is only in the early decades of the twentieth century that the “Hobbesian state of
nature” and the “discourse of anarchy” came to be seen as virtually synonymous. In
examining Hobbes’ international state of nature, this article rejects two common views.
In one, International Relations is seen as a warlike “Hobbesian” anarchy, and in the
other, Hobbes is regarded as the progenitor of Realism. Far from defending anarchy of
states, Hobbes in fact constructs a largely ameliorative international arena.
Keywords
Anarchy, Hobbes, international relations, Realism, sovereignty, state of nature
The discourse of anarchy
The most prominent, and promising, change within the field of International Relations, in
recent years, has been the growing tendency to move away from the historical vacuum
within which world politics take place1 toward a serious consideration of the history of
political thought within such discourse.2 At the same time, this “dawn of a historiographi-
cal turn” in International Relations3 has been recently accompanied by an equally powerful
reassessment of the formative role of the international domain within the fields of Political
Theory and Intellectual History.4 As a result, it has been suggested that current transforma-
tions in world politics and the concerns of the modern age necessitate the reconceptualiza-
tion of these disciplines, long autonomized as distinct intellectual projects, in the creation
of a new discipline—or the resurrection of an old tradition5—“international political the-
ory,” integrating methods of political theorizing within International Relations and an
engagement of international affairs in Political Theory.6
Corresponding author:
Theodore Christov, The George Washington University, 801 22nd St NW, Phillips Hall 335, Washington,
DC 20052, USA.
Email: christov@gwu.edu
720471IPT0010.1177/1755088217720471Journal of International Political TheoryChristov
research-article2017
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