Offers a powerful and influential interpretation of Spinoza's conatusProvides a thorough overview of political theories, clarifying different philosophical traditions that are often obscured under the generic label of modernityDevelops an original analysis of Spinoza's philosophy, based on the concept of conatus, which has been largely neglected in Anglo-Saxon scholarshipBroadens access to the wealth of un-translated literature on SpinozaSpinozism must be understood as a dynamic ontology that necessarily unfolds on practical terrain. Laurent Bove analyses Spinoza's theory of affects as rooted in Habit, generating the constituent power of human beings, commonwealths, nations and multitudes. By interpreting sovereignty as a power that emerges through the active resistance of the always singular body of the multitude, Bove discovers in Spinoza a radically new approach to the State, to citizenship and to history.