Old habits die hard: Samnites, Rome, and the perception of international relations in Republican Italy, c. 350–200 BC

This article discusses how International Relations theory can contribute to our understanding of Roman hegemony, by examining Samnite responses to the early Roman expansion in view of Jervis’s concept of misperception in international politics. While Rome was arguably the hegemonic power in Italy by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHistoria : Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte Vol. 68; no. 1; pp. 50 - 75
Main Author Scopacasa, Rafael
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
German
Published Stuttgart Franz Steiner Verlag 01.01.2019
Subjects
ancient historiography
Archaeology
Hegemony
HISTORIA 2019, 50
History
International relations
IR theory
Italy
Land reform
Power
Republican Rome
Samnites
War
warfare
Italy
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Summary:This article discusses how International Relations theory can contribute to our understanding of Roman hegemony, by examining Samnite responses to the early Roman expansion in view of Jervis’s concept of misperception in international politics. While Rome was arguably the hegemonic power in Italy by 272 BC, Samnite polities continued treating Rome as just another player, not as an overwhelming game-changer, until the Hannibalic war. This apparent gap between perceived and de facto international order may be understood in view of the Samnites’ potential misperception of the international environment, since they continued behaving as if they were still independent players in an international anarchy. These conclusions affect how we conceptualize the Roman conquest.
ISSN:0018-2311
2365-3108
DOI:10.25162/historia-2019-0003