Military, Social Sciences, Sociology, Public Affairs & Policy, Public Policy 

This book traces the relations between the organization of violence and social and political order from ancient Rome to early modern Europe. Following the work of Michel Foucault, the author studies the ways authority, obedience and forms of self-conduct were produced by the micro-techniques used to govern the bodies of violence deployed in different forms of warfare. These ‘problematics’ of military power are largely neglected by historical sociological and political history. The book shows how these processes shaped the course of imperial expansion, the establishment of the rule of law, civilization and state formation. The author thereby links some of the central issues of political history to recent social theories concerning the body, subjectivity and conditions of knowledge.
The author re-reads works of political-theory as attempts to address practical problems posed by the subjects of violence for government (that is the problematic of military power). This enables the author to reflect on the relation between sources and theory in historical studies, and avoid treating history merely as a given field of facts.
The work is organized into four parts, each examining the constitution of violence and order in a distinct historical period in European history. The book shows that military power and its relation to the society has under gone a series of radical and contested shift over the course of history, rather than following a civilizing process. The author also shows that the distinction between civil and military society emerge far more recently than most scholars have assumed. this conventional view may, he asserts, distort our understanding of the past-and perhaps also of our future.
 

This book traces the relations between the organization of violence and social and political order from ancient Rome to early modern Europe. Following the work of Michel Foucault, the author studies the ways authority, obedience and forms of self-conduct were produced by the micro-techniques used to govern the bodies of violence deployed in different forms of warfare. - from Amzon 

Introduction……………………………………………………………...............p. 1

PART ONE: ANCIENT
1 Ancient Rome and Historical Sociology………………………..........p. 13

2 The Roman Republic………………………………………………...............p. 22

3 The Imperial Order…………………………………………………...............p. 50

4 From Pax Romana to the Order of Feud…………………………….p. 70

PART TWO: MEDIEVAL
5 Medieval History and Historical Sociology…………………….........p. 91

6 Encastellation……………………………………………………….................p. 103

7 Three Orders of Violence…………………………………………...........p. 119

8 Medieval Formations: War-State and Law-State…………………p. 144

PART THREE: LATE MEDIEVAL
9 The Hundred Years' War……………………………………………..........p. 165

10 A Military Domain…………………………………………………...............p. 191

PART FOUR EARLY MODERN
11 Two Sources of Military Modernity: Burgundy and
the Swiss……............................................................................p. 217

12 Republic and Monarchy: Two Texts on Government,
Discipline and the Subject of Violence…………..............................p. 240

13 The Early Modern Army and Historical Sociology…………………p. 257

14 Military Reformations……………………………………………..............p. 266

15 Military and Civil Society………………………………………............…p. 286

16 Reflections………………………………………………………....................p. 308