Republicanism has enjoyed a revival of interest in several fields. In this book Nicholas Onuf provides the first major treatment of the republican way of thinking about law, politics and society in the context of international thought. The author's discussion of republicanism starts with Aristotle and culminates in the eighteenth century, when international thought became a distinctive enterprise. By analyzing the thought of Vattel and Kant he identifies a substantial legacy of republicanism in contemporary discussions of sovereignty, intervention, international society, peace, and the global economy.