Davide Orsi
The purpose of this thesis is to identify the implications of Michael Oakeshott’s political philosophy for international political theory and for the theory of international relations.1 It argues that it may provide the grounds for an understanding of international society as a rule-based form of moral association between states. Already, Oakeshott’s thought has been considered from a rich variety of perspectives and has been interpreted in many, often divergent, ways. For example, scholars have placed his works in the context of the history of philosophy and they have highlighted their relation with British and German idealism.2 His critique of Rationalism and the contraposition between civil association and enterprise association has also been considered as a contribution to contemporary Liberalism,3 Conservatism,4 and Republicanism.