State Formation

Review - James C. Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed (New Haven, 2009)

by Uday Chandra

Religion and Society: Advances in Research, Vol. 2 (2011), pp. 194-96.

Misyurov D.A. Dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas // Credo New. 2012. №2

by Dmitry Misyurov

The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with... more The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with dominant and the non-dominant elements; universal formula; formula with symbolic weight of elements; tautological formula. For example, it suggests an opportunity to use the dialectical formulas for modeling and artificial intelligence creation, etc.

La alternativa al funcionalismo y al marxismo: la sociología del Estado de Birnbaum

by Luis I Gordillo

Revista de Estudios Políticos (nueva época). ISSN: 0048-7694, Núm. 156, Madrid, abril-junio (2012), págs. 167-207 (Co-authored with I. Beobide)

Este trabajo recoge las aportaciones de la Sociología y de la Sociología histórica del Estado, tanto en el orden... more Este trabajo recoge las aportaciones de la Sociología y de la Sociología histórica del Estado, tanto en el orden metodológico como en los resultados de su aplicación, al rescatar al Estado o Estados del olvido en el que la Sociología y la Ciencia Política los habían tenido hasta el último cuarto del s. XX. Estas aportaciones, a partir de la labor inicial de Marx, Durkheim y Weber, interpretan al Estado como fenómeno particular histórico y social, plural y multiforme en sus manifestaciones y como variable independiente de análisis y explicación de los más diversos hechos sociales.

This study analyses the different contributions of Sociology and the Classic State Sociology to the State Theory, taking into account their methodologies and the results of their application, revisiting the theory of the emergency of the State within those approaches. These contributions, starting with Marx, Durkheim and Weber see the State as a phenomenon being particular, historic, social, plural and multiform. At the same time, the State is considered as an independent element in order to analyse and justify a range diversity of social facts.

Interpreting Emerging Finance Capitalism in Turkey

by Thomas Marois

Centre for Policy Analysis and Research on Turkey, ResearchTurkey, London, UK

Turkey has been touted as one of the great ‘emerging market’ success stories. As the advanced capitalisms like the US... more Turkey has been touted as one of the great ‘emerging market’ success stories. As the advanced capitalisms like the US and UK sunk into the Great Recession, Turkey pulled out of crisis earning the moniker of a key ‘growth market’ in 2011 by Jim O’Neill, the chair of Goldman Sachs Asset Management who originated the term ‘BRIC’. Over the last decade Turkey’s GDP per capita has skyrocketed from about $8500 to about $14 000 as annual growth stayed in the range of 6-8 per cent. Yet such broad indicators often obscure underlying and growing inequality of income and power among social classes. The OECD ranks Turkey dead last in its social justice indicator. Inequality has increased faster in Turkey than in almost all other OECD member states. Turkey also has the lowest employment rate among member states at 44.3 per cent. While GDP growth appears rosy the average Turk made 21 per cent less on average in 2009 than in 2005.[1] By contrast the banks in Turkey have made record profits year after year, averaging more than double that in most other OECD countries. The balance of power between labour and capital has never been more imbalanced in favour of finance.

2012 “Transnational State,” in George Ritzer, eds, The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization, First Edition (Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd).

by Jeb Sprague

The theory of an emergent transnational state (TNS), as coined by sociologist William I. Robinson (2001), claims that... more The theory of an emergent transnational state (TNS), as coined by sociologist William I. Robinson (2001), claims that through globalization a nascent political, juridical and regulatory
network is coming into existence worldwide. This notion rests upon the idea that a dominant social force, a transnational capitalist class (TCC), propels globalization through transnational corporations (TNCs) (Robinson & Harris 2000). The TCC, to promote and ensure its power, requires a concomitant political project. Such a political project would involve, for example: (i) promoting investor confidence in the global economy, (ii) setting up mechanisms and institutions for responding to economic, political, and military crises that threaten the stability necessary for global markets, and (iii) establishing a degree of macroeconomic policy uniformity across borders.

States Of Struggle: Politics, Religion, And Ecology In The Making Of The Northern Areas, Pakistan

by Nosheen Ali

Seeing Through the State: Representation and Rule in the Northern Areas of Pakistan

by Nosheen Ali

Changing Perceptions of the State in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

by Joanna Innes

El Estado Argárico", Verdolay , 7, pp. 97-109

by Roberto Risch

El Argar and the Beginning of Class Society in the Western Mediterranean

by Roberto Risch

LULL, V., MICÓ, R., RIHUETE, C. y RISCH, R. (2011), "El Argar and the Beginning of Class Society in the Western Mediterranean", en Hansen , S. y Müller, j. (eds.), Sozialarchäologische Perspektiven: Gesellschaftlicher Wandel 5000-1500 v.Chr. zwischen Atlantik und Kaukasus . Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Von Zabern, Berlin , pp. 381-414.

Influence of the history of archaeological thought in South Asia on the understanding of ancient states and empires, including the prevalence of Colonial and Orientalist modes of interpretation.

by Seetal Gahir

The Territorialization of Power in the Icelandic Commonwealth

by Sverrir Jakobsson

A draft version of an article published in Statsutvikling i Skandinavia i middelalderen, eds. Sverre Bagge, Michael H. Gelting, Frode Hervik, Thomas Lindkvist & Bjørn Poulsen (Oslo 2012), 101-18.

CONCLUSION: NEITHER BUILT NOR FORMED – THE TRANSFORMATION OF POST-CONFLICT STATES UNDER INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION

by John Heathershaw

Statebuilding and State-Formation: The political sociology of intervention, Edited by Berit Bliesemann de Guevara,Published 17th February 2012 by Routledge
This is a pre-print version. Get the book via the link above.

The global performance state: a reconsideration of the Central Asian ‘weak state’

by John Heathershaw

A pre-publication paper, forthcoming in the Beyer, Rasanayagam and Reeves volume, 'Performing Politics in Central Asia', under review

Extract: 'We are faced with a contradictory picture regarding the sovereign state which was brought forth unexpectedly... more Extract: 'We are faced with a contradictory picture regarding the sovereign state which was brought forth unexpectedly after the unraveling of the Soviet Union in 1991. The state seems at once omnipresent and perennially absent, omniscient and powerless, omnific and wholly lacking in productive capacity. What is the significance of these gigantic flag-poles and the proliferation of images of statehood across the capitals and countrysides of Central Asian states? Are they merely a symbolic gloss deployed to conceal institutional failure and the lack of the basic materials of statehood (armed forces, balanced budgets and so forth)? Or do they point to a deeper reality of the conditions of statehood in an era of ‘reputation management’ and increasing global connectedness of new media and vastly increased rates of overseas development assistance? This paper seeks to address, conceptually and empirically, this tension found in Political Science studies of Central Asian and other post-colonial states.'

“It’s war, not a dance”: polarising embodied identities in the eastern Mediterranean from the end of the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age

by Manolis Mikrakis

to be published in: M. Mina, Y. Papadatos and S. Triantaphyllou (eds), Embodied Identities in the Prehistoric Eastern Mediterranean: Convergence of Theory and Practice”, a conference hosted by the Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus, 11-12 April 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus.

After the collapse at the end of the Bronze Age, most parts of the eastern Mediterranean experienced the rise of new... more After the collapse at the end of the Bronze Age, most parts of the eastern Mediterranean experienced the rise of new forms of statehood, for which new social identities were essential. Different threads of archaeological, visual and textual evidence especially from the Aegean, Cyprus and the Levant point to ritualised behaviours revolving around eating and drinking, body movement and music making, beauty maintenance, sport and sexuality as dynamic newcomers to established definitions of personal achievement and social status through warfare or the supernatural. In the same sources, uneasiness on the part of traditional elite groups over the assignment of social, cultural and ethical value to such delights is a recurring theme. The present paper explores how feasting practices and socio-political structures shaped one another in the rapidly changing world of the Mediterranean Early Iron Age. It is argued that the growing emphasis on luxurious leisure activities, during which exotica were also displayed and used, marks the emergence of new elite groups that based their claims to authority on the conspicuous consumption of wealth accumulated through commercial enterprises. It is argued, moreover, that contradistinctive representations of feasting and warfare or religion in the archaeological, visual and textual record of this world reflects the social tensions and ideological conflicts that punctuated the way to an entirely new social order and political geography in the eastern Mediterranean.

War and State in the Northeastern Black Sea Region: The Impact of Russian-Ottoman Rivalry on Processes of Political Modernization (19th century)

by Irma Kreiten

New state space formation in Morocco: the example of the Bouregreg Valley

by Koen Bogaert

published in Urban Studies (2012), vol.49 (2), pp.255-270.

Most scholars working on the Arab World typically view the state’s power as something congruent with its cartographic... more Most scholars working on the Arab World typically view the state’s power as something congruent with its cartographic boundaries. Power emerges from an institutional core—the regime—which exerts its hegemony over subordinated institutions, spaces and scales. Thus, the regime presents itself as the privileged site of political formation, intervention and inquiry. The result is a body of scholarship that has largely neglected the dynamics of ‘new state space’ formation at the urban scale. Drawing on the case of the Bouregreg project, a massive high-end urban development scheme positioned between the twin cities of Rabat and Salé, Morocco, this paper investigates the dynamics of agency formation implicated in the creation of a new state space and considers what it reveals about state respatialisation and the rise of new governmental arrangements that have been elided by mainstream accounts on the Middle East and North African region.

Urban renewal and social development in Morocco in an age of neoliberal government

by Koen Bogaert

co-authored with Sami Zemni
published in Review of African Political Economy (2011), 38(129): 403-417.

In this article we argue that Morocco has experienced fundamental political change over the past decades. This... more In this article we argue that Morocco has experienced fundamental political change over the past decades. This transition however cannot be understood in terms provided by the mainstream narratives linking economic liberalisation to democratisation. Rather, transition reflects a shift towards authoritarian modalities of neoliberal government. We focus on how political power has been reconfigured into new forms of ‘hybrid’ government where ‘state’, ‘market’ and ‘civil society’ interact in novel ways, by discussing the political dynamics of high-end urban development and the rationales underpinning social development policies to explain how ‘poor people’ are integrated into the realm of the market.

State Fomation in Early Rome

by Nic Terrenato

De laatmiddeleeuwse crisis van de overheidsfinanciën en de financiële revolutie in Holland

by Jaco Zuijderduijn

Published in Bijdragen en mededelingen betreffende de geschiedenis der Nederlanden 125 (2010) 3-24
In dutch

Historians of the Dutch Revolt have suggested that the success of the rebellious provinces can be explained by... more Historians of the Dutch Revolt have suggested that the success of the rebellious provinces can be explained by sixteenth-century financial innovations that improved the creditworthiness of the States of Holland. This article claims that this development
was triggered by a severe crisis of public finance in these States at the end of the fifteenth century. An analysis of the ensuing reorganization shows that some of these innovations were first introduced as a means of crisis management. This article
uncovers some of the elements that allowed the States to create provincial debt on a more structural basis after 1515, during Holland’s ‘financial revolution’