In Conflict, War, and Revolution: The Problem of Politics in International Political Thought – available open access from LSE Press – Paul Kelly offers a rich and engaging introduction to international political thought through ten key historical thinkers. Readers coming to political theory for the first time will find Kelly’s evident enthusiasm for these ideas deeply infectious and this book an exciting entrance to the field, recommends Christopher Finlay

Finlay, Christopher J.

English

In Conflict, War, and Revolution: The Problem of Politics in International Political Thought – available open access from LSE Press – Paul Kelly offers a rich and engaging introduction to international political thought through ten key historical thinkers. Readers coming to political theory for the first time will find Kelly’s evident enthusiasm for these ideas deeply infectious and this book an exciting entrance to the field, recommends Christopher Finlay. Conflict, War, and Revolution: The Problem of Politics in International Political Thought. Paul Kelly. LSE Press. 2022

LSE Research Online

Book	Review:	Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution:	TheProblem	of	Politics	in	International	Political	Thoughtby	Paul	KellyIn	Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution:	The	Problem	of	Politics	in	International	Political	Thought	–	available	openaccess	from	LSE	Press	–	Paul	Kelly	offers	a	rich	and	engaging	introduction	to	international	political	thoughtthrough	ten	key	historical	thinkers.	Readers	coming	to	political	theory	for	the	first	time	will	find	Kelly’s	evidententhusiasm	for	these	ideas	deeply	infectious	and	this	book	an	exciting	entrance	to	the	field,recommends	Christopher	Finlay.Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution:	The	Problem	of	Politics	in	International	Political	Thought.	Paul	Kelly.	LSEPress.	2022.In	Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution,	Paul	Kelly	offers	students	a	rich	and	engagingintroduction	to	international	political	thought	through	a	series	of	ten	key	historicalthinkers.	The	book	is	free	to	download	from	LSE	Press,	though	it	is	also	possible	tobuy	a	hard	copy.	Students	can	either	read	it	in	its	entirety	as	a	general	introduction	tothe	field	or	they	can	pull	out	individual	chapters	on	the	thinkers	that	interest	them	—each	is	designed	to	be	accessible	on	its	own	terms.It’s	worth	drawing	attention	to	three	interesting	features	of	the	book’s	overall	design.First,	it	is	situated	in	a	specific	subdiscipline	that	Kelly	identifies	as	‘internationalpolitical	theory’	(IPT).	Kelly	carefully	contrasts	IPT	with	various	things	that	either	sit	onits	borders	or	overlap	with	it.	IPT	isn’t	the	same,	for	instance,	as	InternationalRelations	(or	International	Relations	Theory),	though	it	shares	some	concerns.Rather,	IPT	has	emerged	as	an	intellectual	rival	to	positivist	approaches	tointernational	politics	that	tend	to	push	normative	and	prescriptive	questions	to	thescholarly	sidelines.	Against	positivists,	Kelly	argues	for	the	value	of	theoreticalperspectives	that	give	normative	issues	much	more	space.On	the	other	side,	however,	Kelly	distinguishes	IPT	from	the	history	of	political	thought.	He	advocates	engagingwith	historical	thinkers	in	a	way	that	is	informed	by	historical	scholarship.	But	he	resists	the	tendency	ofcontextualists	to	argue	that	past	thought	can	only	really	be	understood	on	its	own	terms.	Kelly	is	convinced	thatreaders	in	the	present	can	extract	valuable	insights	from	historical	thinkers	and	shouldn’t	regard	them	ascomprehensible	only	through	the	methodological	lens	of	history.	Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution	therefore	presentsan	idea	of	international	political	theory	and	political	thought	that	is	informed,	but	not	trapped,	by	history.The	second	notable	feature	of	the	book	is	the	way	it	carves	out	a	much	wider	disciplinary	space	than	the	oneimplicit	in	what	Kelly	calls	‘unchallenged	but	apolitical	cosmopolitanism’.	While	sympathetic	to	liberalism,	he	arguesfor	the	value	of	‘realism’	in	engagement	with	real-world	problems	and	conditions,	and	he	situates	the	book	in	therecent	‘realist	turn’	in	distancing	political	theory	from	what	followers	of	Bernard	Williams	call	‘moralism’.	Kelly	thinksthat	cosmopolitan	approaches	have	‘marginalized	some	of	the	most	fundamental	challenges	facing	contemporarypolitics’.	His	book	is	offered	as	an	exploration	of	a	wider	array	of	ideas	that	he	thinks	are	open	to	‘different	ways	ofdoing	politics,	exercising	power,	force,	and	violence,	and	conceiving	the	goals	of	political	activity	and	itsfundamental	purpose’	(5).LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Conflict, War, and Revolution: The Problem of Politics in International Political Thought by Paul Kelly Page 1 of 3		Date originally posted: 2022-08-10Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2022/08/10/book-review-conflict-war-and-revolution-the-problem-of-politics-in-international-political-thought-by-paul-kelly/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/Kelly’s	emphasis	on	realism	explains	some	of	the	choices	for	chapter	topics.	He	includes	Thucydides,	Augustine,Machiavelli,	Thomas	Hobbes	and	Carl	Schmitt,	all	of	whom	are	frequently	taken	to	lean	in	a	realist	direction.	Inaddition,	he	also	includes	chapters	on	John	Locke,	who	represents	something	of	a	liberal	view,	and	Jean-JacquesRousseau,	representing	an	inward	move	against	Enlightenment	cosmopolitanism	towards	nationalist	identity	andsovereignty.	Lenin	and	Mao,	who	appear	in	a	single	chapter,	are	selected	on	the	basis	that	it	was	through	them	thatMarxism	‘had	the	greatest	impact	on	international	thought	and	affairs’	(305).	Perhaps	the	most	novel	choice	for	achapter	in	a	book	on	political	thought	is	Clausewitz.	Kelly	argues	that	the	author	of	On	War	shouldn’t	be	bracketedas	a	theorist	of	interest	to	military	specialists	only	and	that	he	presents	an	important	view	on	international	politicsmore	widely.Photo	by	Birmingham	Museums	Trust	on	UnsplashWhile	the	chapters	are	intended	to	be	readable	by	students	as	self-standing	pieces	and	Kelly	explicitly	disavowsany	attempt	to	unify	the	readings	in	a	connected	historical	narrative,	he	suggests	that	three	‘linking	issues’	framethe	book	as	a	whole:	‘violence	and	politics,	temporality	and	change,	and	the	meaning	and	significance	of	history’(25).	In	particular,	the	figures	Kelly	chooses	all	‘take	as	fundamental	the	role	of	violence,	conflict,	and	coercion’.	Forthese	thinkers,	violence	is	seen	as	an	ineradicable	problem	in	political	experience	but	also	as	a	key	instrument	inthe	pursuit	of	political	goals	or	as	a	key	form	of	political	agency	(5).As	Kelly	acknowledges,	cosmopolitans	and	liberals	too	have	grappled	with	questions	about	the	utility	of	violenceand	the	legitimacy	of	using	it	for	various	purposes.	We	have	overtly	cosmopolitan	and	liberal	accounts	of	just	warsof	national	defence,	military	intervention	and	armed	resistance,	for	instance,	not	to	mention	accounts	of	targetedkilling	and	other	practices	of	political	violence.	This	being	the	case,	it	might	be	argued	that	cosmopolitan	theory	isquite	adequate	for	engaging	with	supposedly	realist	themes.On	the	other	hand,	the	historical	thinkers	introduced	in	Conflict,	War	and	Revolution	combine	normative	thinkingwith	empirical	theory	in	ways	that	much	less	frequently	occur	in	contemporary	analytical	political	philosophy.	Forinstance,	when	Machiavelli	and	Hobbes	offer	guidance	on	ethical	political	action	or	just	political	institutions,	they	doso	on	the	basis	of	generalised	claims	about	human	nature,	resources,	human	behaviour	and	history.	Political	theoryfor	them	isn’t	only	about	figuring	out	what	the	morally	right	thing	to	do	is,	given	a	choice;	it	is	just	as	much	aboutunderstanding	how	the	choices	with	which	political	actors	are	confronted	are	shaped	by	characteristic	empiricalfactors	that	we	need	to	understand	in	general	terms.LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Conflict, War, and Revolution: The Problem of Politics in International Political Thought by Paul Kelly Page 2 of 3		Date originally posted: 2022-08-10Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2022/08/10/book-review-conflict-war-and-revolution-the-problem-of-politics-in-international-political-thought-by-paul-kelly/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/The	third	thing	that	requires	comment	is	gender	balance.	Kelly	defends	the	fact	that	the	historical	authors	he	haschosen	as	topics	for	the	chapters	are	all	male.	In	a	nutshell,	he	takes	the	book’s	task	to	be	to	present	ideas	thathave	been	handed	down	by	historical	traditions	that	were	themselves	shaped	by	gendered	power	relations.	Doingso	will	make	them	available	to	students	and	scholars	who	can	then	criticise	them	from	perspectives	shaped	byfeminist	thought.That	being	said,	I	wondered	why	someone	of	the	stature	of	Hannah	Arendt	wasn’t	included.	Arendt	is	surely	one	ofthe	most	perceptive	theorists	we	have	of	the	book’s	linking	issues.	The	theme	of	violence	forms	a	persistent	themethroughout	Arendt’s	work.	Her	reflections	on	the	unprecedentedness	of	totalitarianism	are	set	out	in	distinctivetreatments	of	nineteenth-	and	twentieth-century	history	at	national,	regional	and	international	levels.	Likewise,Arendt’s	reflections	on	the	relationships	between	contemporary	political	problems	and	the	history	of	Westernpolitical	thinking	speak	to	the	‘meaning	and	significance	of	history’	at	another	level.	Moreover,	Kelly	suggests	at	onepoint	that	Arendt	was	engaged	in	a	largely	tacit	dialogue	with	Schmitt,	the	subject	of	Chapter	Ten,	and,	indeed,	thatshe	was	among	those	who	contributed	to	the	spread	of	his	ideas	after	World	War	Two	(373,	400).	It	would	havebeen	good	to	have	Arendt’s	side	of	the	debate.Kelly’s	studies	of	these	various	thinkers	are	engaging	and	enjoyable	to	read,	not	least	because	Kelly	is	himselfhighly	engaged	by	questions	about	how	best	to	interpret	them.	For	instance,	he	argues	for	a	view	of	Machiavelli	thatleans	sharply	towards	the	amoralist	side	of	debate	on	the	meaning	of	his	political	theory.	Personally,	I	readMachiavelli	quite	differently,	but	I	thoroughly	enjoyed	being	stimulated	by	Kelly’s	chapter	to	think	more	carefullyabout	why	I	do.	I	suspect	many	readers	coming	to	political	theory	for	the	first	time	will	find	Kelly’s	evidententhusiasm	for	the	ideas	deeply	infectious	and	Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution	an	exciting	introduction	to	the	field.Note:	This	review	gives	the	views	of	the	author,	and	not	the	position	of	the	LSE	Review	of	Books	blog,	or	of	theLondon	School	of	Economics	and	Political	Science.		LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Conflict, War, and Revolution: The Problem of Politics in International Political Thought by Paul Kelly Page 3 of 3		Date originally posted: 2022-08-10Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2022/08/10/book-review-conflict-war-and-revolution-the-problem-of-politics-in-international-political-thought-by-paul-kelly/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/

Book review: Conflict, war, and revolution: the problem of politics in international political thought by Paul Kelly

Book	Review:	Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution:	TheProblem	of	Politics	in	International	Political	Thoughtby	Paul	KellyIn	Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution:	The	Problem	of	Politics	in	International	Political	Thought	–	available	openaccess	from	LSE	Press	–	Paul	Kelly	offers	a	rich	and	engaging	introduction	to	international	political	thoughtthrough	ten	key	historical	thinkers.	Readers	coming	to	political	theory	for	the	first	time	will	find	Kelly’s	evidententhusiasm	for	these	ideas	deeply	infectious	and	this	book	an	exciting	entrance	to	the	field,recommends	Christopher	Finlay.Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution:	The	Problem	of	Politics	in	International	Political	Thought.	Paul	Kelly.	LSEPress.	2022.In	Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution,	Paul	Kelly	offers	students	a	rich	and	engagingintroduction	to	international	political	thought	through	a	series	of	ten	key	historicalthinkers.	The	book	is	free	to	download	from	LSE	Press,	though	it	is	also	possible	tobuy	a	hard	copy.	Students	can	either	read	it	in	its	entirety	as	a	general	introduction	tothe	field	or	they	can	pull	out	individual	chapters	on	the	thinkers	that	interest	them	—each	is	designed	to	be	accessible	on	its	own	terms.It’s	worth	drawing	attention	to	three	interesting	features	of	the	book’s	overall	design.First,	it	is	situated	in	a	specific	subdiscipline	that	Kelly	identifies	as	‘internationalpolitical	theory’	(IPT).	Kelly	carefully	contrasts	IPT	with	various	things	that	either	sit	onits	borders	or	overlap	with	it.	IPT	isn’t	the	same,	for	instance,	as	InternationalRelations	(or	International	Relations	Theory),	though	it	shares	some	concerns.Rather,	IPT	has	emerged	as	an	intellectual	rival	to	positivist	approaches	tointernational	politics	that	tend	to	push	normative	and	prescriptive	questions	to	thescholarly	sidelines.	Against	positivists,	Kelly	argues	for	the	value	of	theoreticalperspectives	that	give	normative	issues	much	more	space.On	the	other	side,	however,	Kelly	distinguishes	IPT	from	the	history	of	political	thought.	He	advocates	engagingwith	historical	thinkers	in	a	way	that	is	informed	by	historical	scholarship.	But	he	resists	the	tendency	ofcontextualists	to	argue	that	past	thought	can	only	really	be	understood	on	its	own	terms.	Kelly	is	convinced	thatreaders	in	the	present	can	extract	valuable	insights	from	historical	thinkers	and	shouldn’t	regard	them	ascomprehensible	only	through	the	methodological	lens	of	history.	Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution	therefore	presentsan	idea	of	international	political	theory	and	political	thought	that	is	informed,	but	not	trapped,	by	history.The	second	notable	feature	of	the	book	is	the	way	it	carves	out	a	much	wider	disciplinary	space	than	the	oneimplicit	in	what	Kelly	calls	‘unchallenged	but	apolitical	cosmopolitanism’.	While	sympathetic	to	liberalism,	he	arguesfor	the	value	of	‘realism’	in	engagement	with	real-world	problems	and	conditions,	and	he	situates	the	book	in	therecent	‘realist	turn’	in	distancing	political	theory	from	what	followers	of	Bernard	Williams	call	‘moralism’.	Kelly	thinksthat	cosmopolitan	approaches	have	‘marginalized	some	of	the	most	fundamental	challenges	facing	contemporarypolitics’.	His	book	is	offered	as	an	exploration	of	a	wider	array	of	ideas	that	he	thinks	are	open	to	‘different	ways	ofdoing	politics,	exercising	power,	force,	and	violence,	and	conceiving	the	goals	of	political	activity	and	itsfundamental	purpose’	(5).USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog: Book Review: Conflict, War, and Revolution: The Problem of Politics in International Political Thought by PaulKellyPage 1 of 3		Date originally posted: 2022-08-14Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2022/08/14/book-review-conflict-war-and-revolution-the-problem-of-politics-in-international-political-thought-by-paul-kelly/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/Kelly’s	emphasis	on	realism	explains	some	of	the	choices	for	chapter	topics.	He	includes	Thucydides,	Augustine,Machiavelli,	Thomas	Hobbes	and	Carl	Schmitt,	all	of	whom	are	frequently	taken	to	lean	in	a	realist	direction.	Inaddition,	he	also	includes	chapters	on	John	Locke,	who	represents	something	of	a	liberal	view,	and	Jean-JacquesRousseau,	representing	an	inward	move	against	Enlightenment	cosmopolitanism	towards	nationalist	identity	andsovereignty.	Lenin	and	Mao,	who	appear	in	a	single	chapter,	are	selected	on	the	basis	that	it	was	through	them	thatMarxism	‘had	the	greatest	impact	on	international	thought	and	affairs’	(305).	Perhaps	the	most	novel	choice	for	achapter	in	a	book	on	political	thought	is	Clausewitz.	Kelly	argues	that	the	author	of	On	War	shouldn’t	be	bracketedas	a	theorist	of	interest	to	military	specialists	only	and	that	he	presents	an	important	view	on	international	politicsmore	widely.Photo	by	Birmingham	Museums	Trust	on	UnsplashWhile	the	chapters	are	intended	to	be	readable	by	students	as	self-standing	pieces	and	Kelly	explicitly	disavowsany	attempt	to	unify	the	readings	in	a	connected	historical	narrative,	he	suggests	that	three	‘linking	issues’	framethe	book	as	a	whole:	‘violence	and	politics,	temporality	and	change,	and	the	meaning	and	significance	of	history’(25).	In	particular,	the	figures	Kelly	chooses	all	‘take	as	fundamental	the	role	of	violence,	conflict,	and	coercion’.	Forthese	thinkers,	violence	is	seen	as	an	ineradicable	problem	in	political	experience	but	also	as	a	key	instrument	inthe	pursuit	of	political	goals	or	as	a	key	form	of	political	agency	(5).As	Kelly	acknowledges,	cosmopolitans	and	liberals	too	have	grappled	with	questions	about	the	utility	of	violenceand	the	legitimacy	of	using	it	for	various	purposes.	We	have	overtly	cosmopolitan	and	liberal	accounts	of	just	warsof	national	defence,	military	intervention	and	armed	resistance,	for	instance,	not	to	mention	accounts	of	targetedkilling	and	other	practices	of	political	violence.	This	being	the	case,	it	might	be	argued	that	cosmopolitan	theory	isquite	adequate	for	engaging	with	supposedly	realist	themes.On	the	other	hand,	the	historical	thinkers	introduced	in	Conflict,	War	and	Revolution	combine	normative	thinkingwith	empirical	theory	in	ways	that	much	less	frequently	occur	in	contemporary	analytical	political	philosophy.	Forinstance,	when	Machiavelli	and	Hobbes	offer	guidance	on	ethical	political	action	or	just	political	institutions,	they	doso	on	the	basis	of	generalised	claims	about	human	nature,	resources,	human	behaviour	and	history.	Political	theoryfor	them	isn’t	only	about	figuring	out	what	the	morally	right	thing	to	do	is,	given	a	choice;	it	is	just	as	much	aboutunderstanding	how	the	choices	with	which	political	actors	are	confronted	are	shaped	by	characteristic	empiricalfactors	that	we	need	to	understand	in	general	terms.USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog: Book Review: Conflict, War, and Revolution: The Problem of Politics in International Political Thought by PaulKellyPage 2 of 3		Date originally posted: 2022-08-14Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2022/08/14/book-review-conflict-war-and-revolution-the-problem-of-politics-in-international-political-thought-by-paul-kelly/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/The	third	thing	that	requires	comment	is	gender	balance.	Kelly	defends	the	fact	that	the	historical	authors	he	haschosen	as	topics	for	the	chapters	are	all	male.	In	a	nutshell,	he	takes	the	book’s	task	to	be	to	present	ideas	thathave	been	handed	down	by	historical	traditions	that	were	themselves	shaped	by	gendered	power	relations.	Doingso	will	make	them	available	to	students	and	scholars	who	can	then	criticise	them	from	perspectives	shaped	byfeminist	thought.That	being	said,	I	wondered	why	someone	of	the	stature	of	Hannah	Arendt	wasn’t	included.	Arendt	is	surely	one	ofthe	most	perceptive	theorists	we	have	of	the	book’s	linking	issues.	The	theme	of	violence	forms	a	persistent	themethroughout	Arendt’s	work.	Her	reflections	on	the	unprecedentedness	of	totalitarianism	are	set	out	in	distinctivetreatments	of	nineteenth-	and	twentieth-century	history	at	national,	regional	and	international	levels.	Likewise,Arendt’s	reflections	on	the	relationships	between	contemporary	political	problems	and	the	history	of	Westernpolitical	thinking	speak	to	the	‘meaning	and	significance	of	history’	at	another	level.	Moreover,	Kelly	suggests	at	onepoint	that	Arendt	was	engaged	in	a	largely	tacit	dialogue	with	Schmitt,	the	subject	of	Chapter	Ten,	and,	indeed,	thatshe	was	among	those	who	contributed	to	the	spread	of	his	ideas	after	World	War	Two	(373,	400).	It	would	havebeen	good	to	have	Arendt’s	side	of	the	debate.Kelly’s	studies	of	these	various	thinkers	are	engaging	and	enjoyable	to	read,	not	least	because	Kelly	is	himselfhighly	engaged	by	questions	about	how	best	to	interpret	them.	For	instance,	he	argues	for	a	view	of	Machiavelli	thatleans	sharply	towards	the	amoralist	side	of	debate	on	the	meaning	of	his	political	theory.	Personally,	I	readMachiavelli	quite	differently,	but	I	thoroughly	enjoyed	being	stimulated	by	Kelly’s	chapter	to	think	more	carefullyabout	why	I	do.	I	suspect	many	readers	coming	to	political	theory	for	the	first	time	will	find	Kelly’s	evidententhusiasm	for	the	ideas	deeply	infectious	and	Conflict,	War,	and	Revolution	an	exciting	introduction	to	the	field.This	review	first	appeared	at	LSE	Review	of	Books.Please	read	our	comments	policy	before	commenting.Note:	This	article	gives	the	views	of	the	author,	and	not	the	position	of	USAPP	–	American	Politics	and	Policy,	norof	the	London	School	of	Economics.	Shortened	URL	for	this	post:	https://bit.ly/3zUpqWIAbout	the	reviewerChristopher	Finlay	–	Durham	UniversityChristopher	Finlay	is	Professor	of	Political	Theory	at	Durham	University’s	School	of	Government	and	InternationalAffairs.	He	writes	on	political	thought	and	the	ethics	of	political	violence.USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog: Book Review: Conflict, War, and Revolution: The Problem of Politics in International Political Thought by PaulKellyPage 3 of 3		Date originally posted: 2022-08-14Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2022/08/14/book-review-conflict-war-and-revolution-the-problem-of-politics-in-international-political-thought-by-paul-kelly/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/

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Book review: Conflict, war, and revolution: the problem of politics in international political thought by Paul Kelly

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