Individual Rights and the Making of the International System

Reviews / Votes

'Chris Reus-Smit has written a groundbreaking book. By showing that, during the last five centuries, revolutionary ideas on individual rights were at the roots of the demand for sovereignty and de-legitimation of empires, and therefore, also of the expansion of international systems and the evolution of international order, [his] theoretical and empirical tour de force, more than most books in international relations, reveals the social nature of international systems and how international orders transform.' Emanuel Adler, Professor of Political Science and Andrea and Charles Bronfman Chair of Israeli Studies, University of Toronto 'An exciting story about the surprising political power of ideas concerning human rights in the critical junctures at which the international system has undergone its greatest expansions. I have long argued that human rights ought to matter - Reus-Smit has demonstrated that they repeatedly can, and do, matter fundamentally.' Henry Shue, Centre for International Studies, University of Oxford 'Reus-Smit has written a brilliant book - strikingly original in its argument, ambitious in scope, and meticulous in its research. It should change the way that international relations scholars think about the international system and the theories we use to explain change.' Kathryn Sikkink, Regents Professor, University of Minnesota 'Scholars have offered a variety of explanations for the rise and triumph of the nation-state. Reus-Smit argues that most accounts fail to explain why people wanted independent statehood in the first place. His answer is human rights.' G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs