Hugo Grotius and international relations

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Frédéric Bastiat

The main source for this translation is the seven-volume "Oeuvres completes de Frederic Bastiat", published in the 1850s and 1860s. The present volume, most of which has never before been translated into English, includes Bastiat's complete correspondence: 208 letters Bastiat wrote between 1819, when he was only 18 years old, until just a few days before his untimely death in 1850 at the age of 49. For contemporary classical liberals, Bastiat's correspondence will provide a unique window into a long-forgotten world where opposition to war and colonialism went hand-in-hand with support for free trade and deregulation. Bastiat's numerous letters to Richard Cobden, a Member of Parliament and best known today as the leader of the British Anti-Corn Law League, chronicle the profound effect the Anti-Corn League had on Bastiat. The League's success in mobilising a popular movement in England to pressure the British government into abolishing the very protectionist 'corn laws' in 1846, inspired Bastiat to emulate the League's success in France by starting his own free-trade movement. This volume also includes articles and other writings on politics and current events that showcase Bastiat's talent as a theoretician, a pamphleteer, a journalist, and a deputy (Member of Parliament) of the nascent French Second Republic. Together with the correspondence, the writings in this volume fill an important gap in our understanding of the lesser-known Bastiat, who, in just a few short years, made a profound impact on French intellectual and political life in Paris.

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Rachel Hammersley

"An in-depth study of the radical Cordeliers Club and its influence on political and constitutional thought of the time"--Provided by publisher

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Deon Geldenhuys

Contested states is the novel term used here for pretender states that fail to attract collective recognition through the UN. Lacking the 'birth certificate' of confirmed statehood, the non-recognized states are condemned to life in international limbo. Among them are Taiwan, Northern Cyprus, Somaliland, Kosovo and Abkhazia. The degree of their diplomatic isolation varies, from Somaliland that has no formal recognition to Kosovo whose self-proclaimed statehood has been recognized by over 40 states. The key feature of all these aspirant states is that their claims to statehood are being contested by the vast majority of existing states, thus causing serious tension in their respective neighbourhoods. To help us understand why they emerge, how they behave and where they may be heading, this book offers an original analytical framework and presents detailed case studies of ten contemporary contested states.

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Leslie Derfler

Charles de Gaulle of France, Juan Per̤n of Argentina, and Pierre Elliott Trudeau of Canada all achieved the pinnacle of political power, fell from or relinquished power, and then, after a period in the political wilderness, regained their power. By placing greater emphasis than that customarily accorded by biographers on the interment that followed their fall and preceded their resurrection, Derfler describes what they did, the lessons they learned, and the mistakes made by their successors that facilitated their reentry.