And about international law in specific, I read an interesting account of it’s history in Henry Sumner Maine’s “Ancient Law”, where he describes the transition between various conceptions of international law, one where the primary entities were tribes/people and not territory, then one where everything is under a centralized sovereignty that is supposed to solve all conflicts (the roman empire, then the pope—I guess the same would apply to China); and then finally what we have now, a territory-based distinction (I’m summarizing a lot, and probably got some bits wrong).
In the same category as Grotius, you might want to check out Montesquieu, whose ideas strongly influenced the American Constitution.
I second the “go back to fundamentals” bit.
And about international law in specific, I read an interesting account of it’s history in Henry Sumner Maine’s “Ancient Law”, where he describes the transition between various conceptions of international law, one where the primary entities were tribes/people and not territory, then one where everything is under a centralized sovereignty that is supposed to solve all conflicts (the roman empire, then the pope—I guess the same would apply to China); and then finally what we have now, a territory-based distinction (I’m summarizing a lot, and probably got some bits wrong).
In the same category as Grotius, you might want to check out Montesquieu, whose ideas strongly influenced the American Constitution.