Four Seminal Thinkers in International Theory: Machiavelli, Grotius, Kant, and Mazzini

Martin Wight was one of the most profound and influential thinkers on international relations of his time; and his work is increasingly discussed, appraised, and drawn upon today. His earlier volume of posthumously-published lectures - International Theory: The Three Traditions - is now regarded as a seminal text. That volume is here complemented and completed. In these four lectures Wight takes the archetypal thinkers of the three traditions - Machiavelli, Grotius, and Kant - to whom he adds Mazzini, the father of all revolutionary nationalism (and so the prototype of such as Nehru, Nasser, and Mandela) and subjects their writings and careers to a masterly analysis and commentary. This volume has been prepared and edited by Gabriele Wight and Brian Porter, and contains an important new introduction to Wight's thought by Professor David S. Yost. The volume also contains a preface by Sir Michael Howard, CH.

About the Author

Martin Wight was born in 1913, and died in 1972. This book, edited by his wife Gabriele Wight, and his colleague, Dr Brian Porter, brings together some of his previously unpublished material. Mrs Gabriele Wight married Martin Wight in 1952. She co-edited another of Martin Wight's posthumous works, International Theory: The Three Traditions in 1991, which is now regarded as a classic. Dr Brian Porter was successively tutored and supervised by Martin Wight. He co-edited Wight's International Theory: The Three Traditions with Mrs Gabriele Wight in 1991.