Robert Schuett is a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of Salzburg. He has a Ph.D. from the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University. His research and teaching interests are International Relations theory and foreign-policy realism. Recent publications include The Edinburgh Companion to Political Realism (Edinburgh University Press, 2018) and The Concept of the State in International Relations (Edinburgh University Press, 2015). He lives and works in Vienna. Peter M. R. Stirk is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Durham University. His publications include The Politics of Military Occupation (Edinburgh University Press, 2009) and Twentieth-Century German Political Thought (Edinburgh University Press, 2006).

The concept of the state remains at one and the same time the most central and yet most elusive concepts in modern politics. This superb collection ranges across historical, Theoretical, and empirical landscapes, providing challenging and incisive insights into key issues of our time. A first-rate book.

• Introduction: The Concept of the State in International Relations, Peter M.R. Stirk; Chapter 1: International Law and Statehood: A Performative View, Janis Grzybowski & Martti Koskenniemi; Chapter 2: The State as a Universe of Discourse, Peter J. Steinberger; Chapter 3: Sovereignty and the Personality of the State, Jens Bartelson; Chapter 4: The State as Urban Myth: Governance without Government in the Global South, Oliver Jütersonke and Moncef Kartas; Chapter 5: ‘Decolonizing Sovereignty: Globalisation and the Return of Hyper-Sovereignty’, John M. Hobson; Chapter 6: The Concept of the State as a Community of Liability, Peter M.R. Stirk; Chapter 7: From Global Governance to Global Stateness, William E. Scheuerman; Conclusion: Open Societies, Cosmopolitanism, and the State as a Safeguard against Nationalism, Robert Schuett