Property and the Making of the International System

This original work considers the emergence of the modern international system—that is, the global social context framing the diverse behaviors called international relations—in terms of the concepts of property and property rights.

Burch argues that the development of "property" is a crucial aspect of contemporary claims about the modern state, sovereignty, international law, state conflict, global political economy, and the world system as a whole. By investigating a concept, rather than a specific social condition, activity, or actor, he explores the socially shared understandings and meanings that inform individuals' outlooks and behaviors. It is these changing meanings and consequent behaviors, he demonstrates, that actually "make" the international system.