Classical realism and the tension between sovereignty and intervention: constructions of expediency from Machiavelli, Hobbes and Bodin

摘要

This article revisits the tension between sovereignty and intervention through the philosophical lenses of three classical realists — Machiavelli, Hobbes and Bodin. A close reading of their studies of sovereignty reveals that they have been animated by a common philosophical search for order and preservation by state authorities amidst the arbitrariness inherent in politics. Their quest for these goals was premised upon the construction of sovereignty in tandem with intervention. Explaining the realist premises of intervention also requires the co-constitution of a third idea: the logic of expedience intrinsic to sovereignty itself. This holds implications for the way one views sovereignty in contemporary international relations discourses.