Benno Teschke

Benno Teschke (* 1967) is Professor of Theories of International Relations at the University of Sussex . He advocates the approach of a “political Marxism” and in particular caused a stir internationally with his book The Myth of 1648: Class, Geopolitics and the Making of Modern International Relations (German 2007). For this he was awarded the German Memorial Prize in 2003.

Theoretical positions

His analytical approach for geopolitical systems is based on social property relations and rejects the “primacy of foreign policy”. The central thesis of his book is the criticism of the “Myth 1648”, that is, the assertion that the system of modern nation-states emerged with the Westphalian system . On the other hand, according to Teschke, a double transition from feudalism to the modern state system must be noted: There is a transition from feudalism to the "pluriverse" of dynastic-premodern states on the European continent. The date 1648 stands for this transition. And there is a transition from this system of dynastic states to the modern state system. This transformation takes place on the basis of the English capitalism that began in the 17th century .

While the specific form of modern states (monopoly of violence, separation of violence and appropriation, depersonalization of domination, emergence of a market economy) can be explained by the property relations of the separation of the direct producers from their means of production (and not by the absolutism of the states of the Westphalian system), The specific structure of territorial statehood in Europe could not be explained by capitalism and could be explained by the first transformation (feudalism in dynastic territories).

literature

• Benno Teschke: Myth 1648. Classes, geopolitics and the emergence of the European state system. Münster 2007 (English 2003)

Web links

• Literature by and about Benno Teschke in the catalog of the German National Library
• Homepage of Benno Teschke at the University of Sussex

Individual evidence

1. ↑ deutscherprize.org.uk
2. ↑ Teschke, Mythos 1648, p. 123ff.
3. ^ Teschke, Mythos 1648, p. 145