Leviathans Tamed: Political Theory and International Relations in Modern Political Thought

My dissertation, Leviathans Tamed: Political Theory and International Relations in Modern Political Thought, examines the centrality of debates about inter-state relations in the formation of modern liberal political theory. It shows how the sovereign state, in its interaction with other states, provided---historically and theoretically---a near-perfect example of the autonomous liberal agent. It is an engagement with Hobbes' central but least examined claim---that the international order is modeled after the natural condition of men---and further shows the conceptual link between European overseas expansion and the growth of liberalism.