Peter Schröder - Böcker

The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) remains a puzzling and complex subject for students and scholars alike. This is hardly surprising since it is often contested among historians whether it is actually appropriate to speak of a single war or a series of conflicts. Similarly emphasis is also put on the different motives for going to war, as conflicting religious and political interests were involved. This research companion brings together leading scholars in the field to synthesize the range of existing research on the war, which is still fragmented and divided along national historical lines, and to further explore the complexities of the conflict using an innovative comparative approach. The companion is designed to provide scholars and graduate students with a comprehensive and authoritative overview of research on one of the most destructive conflicts in European history.

Contemporary research on the genealogy of human rights and the foundations of international law has brought renewed interest to the study of natural law in the early-modern period. German-born Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694) is one of the eminent thinkers of this tradition, shaping the period's natural jurisprudence. This unique collection of essays edited by historian of political thought Peter Schröder fills in a gap in Pufendorf scholarship, exploring the significance of his contributions to political and legal thought on a broad scale. While many books studying Pufendorf's work are confined to one specific academic area, Pufendorf's International Political and Legal Thought is truly interdisciplinary, and the first book to substantially address the international aspect of Pufendorf's work.Ambitious and accessible, this collection is indispensable for scholars and students of intellectual history, political thought, international legal history, the Enlightenment, and political economy. With its focus on international law, Pufendorf's International Political and Legal Thought is a critical addition to the existing body of work on this renowned philosopher and jurist.

One of the great paradoxes of post-medieval Europe, is why instead of bringing peace to a disorganised and violent world, modernity instead produced a seemingly endless string of conflicts and social upheavals. Why was it that the foundation and institutionalisation of secured peace and the rule of law seemed to go hand-in-hand with the proliferation of war and the violation of individual and collective rights? In order to try to better understand such profound questions, this volume explores the history and theories of political thought of international relations in the seventeenth century, a period in which many of the defining features and boundaries of modern Europe where fixed and codified. With the discovery of the New World, and the fundamental impact of the Reformation, the complexity of international relations increased considerably. Reactions to these upheavals resulted in a range of responses intended to address the contradictions and conflicts of the anarchical society of states. Alongside the emergence of "modern" international law, the equation of international relations with the state of nature, and the development of the "balance of power", diplomatic procedures and commercial customs arose which shaped the emerging (and current) international system of states. Employing a multidisciplinary approach to address these issues, this volume brings together political scientists, philosophers, historians of political thought, jurists and scholars of international relations. What emerges is a certain tension between the different strands of research which allows for a fruitful new synthesis. In this respect the assembled essays in this volume offer a sophisticated and fresh account of the interactions of law, conflict and the nation state in an early-modern European context.

One of the great paradoxes of post-medieval Europe, is why instead of bringing peace to a disorganised and violent world, modernity instead produced a seemingly endless string of conflicts and social upheavals. Why was it that the foundation and institutionalisation of secured peace and the rule of law seemed to go hand-in-hand with the proliferation of war and the violation of individual and collective rights? In order to try to better understand such profound questions, this volume explores the history and theories of political thought of international relations in the seventeenth century, a period in which many of the defining features and boundaries of modern Europe where fixed and codified. With the discovery of the New World, and the fundamental impact of the Reformation, the complexity of international relations increased considerably. Reactions to these upheavals resulted in a range of responses intended to address the contradictions and conflicts of the anarchical society of states. Alongside the emergence of "modern" international law, the equation of international relations with the state of nature, and the development of the "balance of power", diplomatic procedures and commercial customs arose which shaped the emerging (and current) international system of states. Employing a multidisciplinary approach to address these issues, this volume brings together political scientists, philosophers, historians of political thought, jurists and scholars of international relations. What emerges is a certain tension between the different strands of research which allows for a fruitful new synthesis. In this respect the assembled essays in this volume offer a sophisticated and fresh account of the interactions of law, conflict and the nation state in an early-modern European context.

Bringing together expert contributors in a range of disciplines from the UK, the USA and Europe, Hobbes in Dialogue shines a much-needed light on the political and philosophical dialogues of Thomas Hobbes.The book is divided into three major parts that address earlier dialogues, which shaped the background to Hobbes’s own, Hobbes’s dialogues themselves and the wider context of his philosophy in relation to the dialogue form, and lastly two later dialogues that criticised Hobbes.The various chapters explore how the dialogue form allowed Hobbes, as one of the eminent thinkers who shaped early modern political thought, to present his political philosophy in a different guise. How do his dialogues tally with his other often more systematic works? Do they complement his earlier writings? Does he expect the readers of his dialogues to know about his key positions and arguments as notably developed in De Cive and Leviathan? These are some of the leading questions Hobbes in Dialogue considers in a collection that reveals much about Hobbes’s thinking and the intellectual history of Europe in the early modern age more broadly.

The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) remains a puzzling and complex subject for students and scholars alike. This is hardly surprising since it is often contested among historians whether it is actually appropriate to speak of a single war or a series of conflicts. Similarly emphasis is also put on the different motives for going to war, as conflicting religious and political interests were involved. This research companion brings together leading scholars in the field to synthesize the range of existing research on the war, which is still fragmented and divided along national historical lines, and to further explore the complexities of the conflict using an innovative comparative approach. The companion is designed to provide scholars and graduate students with a comprehensive and authoritative overview of research on one of the most destructive conflicts in European history.

Schriften des Instituts für Deutsche Sprache (SIDS) is published by the Leibniz Institute for the German Language (IDS) in Mannheim. The IDS is one of the most prominent research institutes for research and documentation of the German language in the past and present. The renowned publications series SIDS publishes the results of research projects at the IDS. The series includes high-quality handbooks, e.g. Grammar of the German Language (Strecker/Hoffmann/Zifonun), and fundamental monographs on all areas of the grammar, pragmatics, lexicon and morphology of German. SIDS is a standard series of German linguistics.

This proceedings volume contains 27 contributions which treat the latest in Monte Carlo and finite-element methods for radiosity and radiance. Further special topics dealt with are the use of image maps to capture light throughout space, complexity, volumetric stochastic descriptions, innovative approaches to sampling and approximation, and system architecture. The Rendering Workshop proceedings should be of interest to all scientists working in the rendering field, and should also be useful for the practitioner involved in the implementation of the latest rendering systems.

Discrete differential geometry is an active mathematical terrain where differential geometry and discrete geometry meet and interact. It provides discrete equivalents of the geometric notions and methods of differential geometry, such as notions of curvature and integrability for polyhedral surfaces. Current progress in this field is to a large extent stimulated by its relevance for computer graphics and mathematical physics. This collection of essays, which documents the main lectures of the 2004 Oberwolfach Seminar on the topic, as well as a number of additional contributions by key participants, gives a lively, multi-facetted introduction to this emerging field.

Natural and agro-ecosystems are frequently exposed to natural or synthetic substances, which, while they have no direct nutritional value or significance in metabolism, may negatively affect plant functioning. These, xenobiotics, may originate from both natural (fires, volcano eruptions, soil or rock erosion, biodegradation) and anthropogenic (air and soil pollution, herbicides) sources. And, while affected plants have only a limited number of possibilities for avoiding accumulation of these compounds, they do exhibit several enzymatic reactions for detoxification including oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis and conjugation reactions. In agro-ecosystems in particular these mechanisms have great significance in relation to herbicide detoxification and tolerance. In this volume an international group of experts present an overview of the nature and distribution of organic xenobiotics, including their uptake, effects on plant functioning and detoxification mechanisms. The particular significance of glutathione S-transferases in bio-indication and bio-monitoring, and in the detoxification of volatile organic air pollutants and herbicides is evaluated, and their potential significance in phytoremediation and bioaccumulation will be discussed. This volume will be of interest to a wide audience, from graduate students to senior researchers in a wide range of disciplines including plant ecology, plant biochemistry, agriculture and environmental management. It will also be of practical interest to environmentalists, policy makers and resource managers.