From: Drischler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, April 3, 2006
Re: Book announcement
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The Political Biography of the Young Leibniz in
The Age of Secret Diplomacy
Early Modern State Formation, 17th-Century Political
Discourse and Modern Political Biography Reconsidered
William Fr. Drischler
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ISBN No. 1-4196-1844-X
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CONTENTS
Praefatio
ABSTRACT
Part I. Introduction. Topicality of Leibniz Biography as a Whole
Revolution A: The Old Political Biography
Leibniz as de facto Head of State: Pinnacle-Level
Diplomatic Interventionism in the Sir Roland Gwynne
Affair in London
Leibniz as East-West Influence Broker: The Net Inflow/
Net Outflow Problem in the Relation of Russo-Asia
to the West
Leibniz as Unsullied Revolutionary Modernist:
The Destruction of European Cultural Autonomy
as a Revolutionary Act
Revolution B: Early Modern State Formation
Revolution C: The Denouement of 17th-Century
Political Theory. Leibniz' Dethronement of Hobbes
Part II. An Overview of the Three Stages
of Leibniz' Political Biography
Stage III - The Russo-Leibniz: Russification of Europe,
Eurasianization of the World. The Consolidation of the
Ango-Russian Secret Diplomacy State, 1694-1716
Stage II - The Middle Leibniz: Constructing the Hanover
Pivot, 1676-1694
Stage I - The Young Leibniz. The Intrepid Rheinbundler
Slowly Wise, 1667-1676
Part III. Some Conclusions on the Political Biography
of the Young Leibniz, 1667-1676
Appendix: Schema of Leibniz' Political Biography
Appendix: Early Modern State Formation without Witsen
and Secret Diplomacy? A Comment on Phillip S. Gorski's
'The Disciplinary Revolution'
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BACK COVER COPY
William Fr. Drischler's 'The Political Biography of the Young Leibniz in the
Age of Secret Diplomacy' attempts significant revisions in three areas of
political analysis at once. In political biography the conventional wisdom
(common to Leibniz specialists and diplomatic historians alike) that the
gout-ridden philosopher was strictly subordinate to heads of state such
as George I of Hanover comes in for criticism; the little-known G.W. v.
Schuetz affair of 1714 - wherein Leibniz went over the head of the
incoming King of England and entered into an alliance with the
Electoress Mother of Hanover and "Junto Whig" Lords Somers and
Wharton to intervene in succession deliberations at the London
Court of Queen Anne - reveals Leibniz interacting with heads of
state as a virtual peer.
Also ripe for revolution is the field of Early Modern State Formation,
dominated by the "French paradigm" of a culturally autonomous
West, the indivisibly sovereign nation-state, and the balance of
power concept of international relations. Building on the recent
path-breaking work of Benno Teschke ('The Myth of 1648: Class,
Geopolitics and the Making of Modern International Relations'),
Drischler argues that Leibniz & Co. finished off the French paradigm
by 1715 and that the actual foundation of modern international
relations was the "Anglo-Russian secret diplomacy state" based on
Eurasian cultural melding with Muscovy, promiscuous federalism and
secret hegemony of the federated nation of Russo-England. Not
merely is the claim made that the concept of the sovereign Western
state is a myth; 'The Political Biography of the Young Leibniz in the
Age of Secret Diplomacy' contends the concept is an ideological
concoction of the Anglo-Russian victors in the Great Northern War,
1700-1721, expressly designed to disguise their deoccidentalizing
regime. However - and appropriately for a work based largely on
Marx's 'Revelations of the Diplomatic History of the 18th Century' -
'The Political Biography of the Young Leibniz in the Age of Secret
Diplomacy' provides no comfort for contemporary neo-conservative
federalist thought either, since the core assertion of contemporary
federalists - namely that federalism represents a novel and real
alternative to allegedly centralized, sovereign nation-state of
modernity - stands rebutted as well.
With indivisible sovereignty/absolutism theorists such as Thomas
Hobbes stigmatized as losers, Drischler calls for a new history of
17th-century political discourse stressing the German federalist
(German particularist) winners such as Leibniz, Dietrich Reinkingk and
V. Ludwig v. Seckendorff. Also of considerable interest is the
identification of Leibniz collaborator Nicolaes Witsen of Amsterdam
(1641-1717) as Russification kingpin of Europe during the forging
of the modern state, as well as the unprecedented identification
of John Locke as a Russification agent for British head of state John,
Baron Somers (Lord Somers).
'The Political Biography of the Young Leibniz in the Age of Secret
Diplomacy' should provide controversy for years to come.
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