Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ph5wq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T12:36:20.826Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Hegel's theory of international politics: a reply to Jaeger

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2003

Extract

Hans-Martin Jaeger argues in this Journal that Hegel endorses a ‘reluctant realism’, whereby Hegel's theory of international politics institutionalises a transnationalising civil society of states. In Jaeger's view, Hegel's conception of individuals in civil society is analogous to states in international politics. On the contrary, I argue Hegel's conception of abstract right is far more commensurable with his theory of international politics. The mutual recognition existing in civil society – which helps to produce legal relationships – does not exist beyond the state where there are no legal relationships. Thus, Hegel is a realist of a more familiar sort, without any ‘reluctance’.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 British International Studies Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)