Bürgerliche Revolution, Staatsbildung und die Abwesenheit des Internationalen

Abstract

This article traces the Marxist debate on the concept of ‘bourgeois revolution’ and criticises attempts within orthodox Marxism to salvage the concept in the face of the historiographical revisionist critique. It then introduces into the Anglo-American tradition of Political Marxism and argues that while scholars of this orientation have presented a powerful renewal of Marxism and re-interpretation of late medieval and early modern history, they have failed to systematically incorporate international relations into their reconstructions of early modern revolutions and state-formations. The article demonstrates how the international played a crucial role in shaping the respective trajectories of national developments, exemplified with reference to England and France, and concludes by arguing the case for a theoretical re-integration of the role of international relations into Marxist Historical Sociology.