Abstract
This chapter provides the reader with a foretaste of what is to come. It introduces the reader to Guicciardini and his Ricordi, juxtaposing him with Machiavelli, and explaining how the former will be the main vehicle to help to understand relations between states. It will suggest that geopolitics is inadequate in gaining a deep understanding of inter-state relations. The chapter introduces the term ‘geohistory’, with its emphasis on the immutability of human nature and characteristics, and advocates the importance of detaching oneself from ideology and ‘conceptual frameworks’, and of scrutinising documents.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Bell, Duncan, ‘Beware of False Prophets: Biology, Human Nature and the Future of International Relations Theory’, International Affairs, Vol. 82, No. 3, Chatham House, London, May, 2006.
Bull, Hedley, ‘Society and Anarchy in International Relations’, in Butterfield, Herbert and Wight, Martin, (eds.) Diplomatic Investigations, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London, 1966.
Dunn, David Hastings, ‘Myths, Motivations and ‘Misunderestimations’’, International Affairs, vol. 79, no. 2, March 2003.
Guicciardini, Francesco, Counsels and Reflections, translated from the Italian (Ricordi Politici e Civili) by Ninian Hill Thomson, M.A., Kegan Paul, Trench Trübner & Co., Ltd., London, 1890.
Grunig, James E. and Hunt, Todd, Managing Public Relations, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1984.
Hellman, Gunther (ed.), ‘Are Dialogue and Synthesis Possible in International Relations?’, International Studies Review, Blackwell, Malden (USA), and Oxford, 2003.
Hill, Christopher, The Changing Politics of Foreign Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2003.
Kissinger, Henry, World Order, Allen Lane, 2014.
Lurralde, no. 18, San Sebastian, 1995, ISSN 1697–3070.
Machiavelli, Niccolò, The Prince, Oxford University Press, 1990.
Mallinson, William, Kissinger and the Invasion of Cyprus: Diplomacy in the Eastern Mediterranean, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2016 and 2017.
Mallinson William, Cyprus: Diplomatic History and the Clash of Theory International Relations, I. B. Tauris, London and New York, 2010.
Mallinson, William, Thrice a Stranger, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2016, 2017.
Mallinson, William, Images in Words: Only History Exists, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2018, 2019.
Platias, Athanassios G., and Koliopoulos, Constantinos, Thucydides on Strategy, Hurst and Company, London, 2010.
Pocock, J.G.A. (Johns Hopkins University), ‘Machiavelli and Guicciardini: Ancients and Moderns’, Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory/Revue Canadienne de théorie politique et sociale, Vol. 2, No., 3 (Fall/Automne 1978).
Strauss, Leo and Cropsey, Joseph (eds.), History of Political Philosophy, University of Chicago, 1987 (first published in 1963).
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, translated by Rex Warner, introduction and notes by M. I. Finlay, Penguin Books, London etc., 1972.
Wilde, Oscar, ‘De Profundis’, The Works of Oscar Wilde, Collins, London, 1948.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mallinson, W. (2021). Explanation. In: Guicciardini, Geopolitics and Geohistory . Palgrave Studies in International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76537-8_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76537-8_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-76536-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-76537-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)