This study of international relations is often cut off from the study of domestic affairs, but this insulation of the international from the domestic is wrong, according to Georg Sørenson. International forces profoundly influence the core structures of sovereign statehood, including their political military, economic and normative substance. Conversely, the very nature of international relations is determined by the internal structure of states. In an important contribution to the debate, Sørensen puts forward an original analysis of this critical interplay between internal and external forces. He explores the development and change of the sovereign state and offers a new agenda for the study of international relations.