About the book: 2019 / This book refutes the popular belief that the Westphalian peace agreements of 1648 were not only put an end to the Thirty Years' War in Europe, but also marked the birth of a new international order based on the interaction of sovereign states. The author shows that intrastate “social property relations” had a decisive influence on international relations at least before the start of the French Revolution. The dynastic monarchies that ruled at this time differed from their medieval predecessors in the degree and form of personalization of power, but not in its underlying logic. The real changes occurred relatively recently and were associated with the development of modern states and capitalism. The modern system of international relations emerged only after governments began to rule impersonally, limiting their functions to exercising a monopoly on violence. The book is addressed to historians, sociologists, political scientists