‘Unnatural Selection’: Max Weber’s Concept of Auslese and His Criticism of the Reduction of Political Conflict to Economics

Abstract

This article examines the meaning of the much neglected concept of selection (Auslese) in Weber. It demonstrates that Weber is able to account for the way economic, domestic political, and international spheres interact with one another by showing how the principle of selection operates differently in each sphere of action. But it also shows that when these three principles interlock with each other, we get a more powerful account of the struggle of states for power and imperialism than when we rely merely on an economic account of political conflict. Weber’s approach reveals how parsimonious accounts of international relations, especially those that rely on micro-economic analogies, fail to capture these multiple dynamics.