The Rise and Transformation of the State

1. The Rise and Transformation of the State October 6

2. Overview • “The state” defined and compared to other terms • Rise of the modern state • Globalization and the transformation of the state

3. Defining the State • From our textbook’s glossary: State: “A polity which claims in law (and is able to assert in fact) that within a given portion of the earth its properly constituted organs are exclusively entitled to practise legitimate violence in the pursuit of political interests, beginning with the maintenance of public order and defence of the territory from foreign encroachments.”

4. Defining the State • “The State” by Leo Panitch from the Canadian Encyclopedia online.

5. Defining the State Fundamental aspects of the state: • claims a monopoly over coercive force • territorial claims • sovereignty claims

6. Terminology? • state • government • country • nation • nation-state

7. Rise of the Modern State • Treaty of Westphalia (Peace of Westphalia) • warfare and competitive rivalries • gradual centralization of power/authority • rise of capitalism, broadening of markets, standardization of currencies • rising nationalist sentiment (in part fostered by, or sponsored by, the emergent states)

8. Theories of the State • Pluralist (non-theory of the state?) • Weberian (institutionalist theories) • Marxist (critical theories, class nature of the state)

9. Globalization and the Transformation of the State

10. Globalization • Globalization takes a variety of forms: economic (trade, investment), social (migration), cultural, etc. • The impact of globalization upon the state is widely debated.

11. How new is globalization? • “Modern industry has established the world market, for which the discovery of America paved the way. This market has given an immense development to commerce, to navigation, to communication by land.” • Marx and Engels, 1848

12. How new is globalization? • “The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connexions everywhere.” • “The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country.”

13. How new is globalization? • “The discovery of America, the rounding of the Cape, opened up fresh ground for the rising bourgeoisie. The East-Indian and Chinese markets, the colonisation of America, trade with the colonies, the increase in the means of exchange and in commodities generally, gave to commerce, to navigation, to industry, an impulse never before known, and thereby, to the revolutionary element in the tottering feudal society, a rapid development.” • Marx and Engels, 1848

14. Globalization and the State globalization sceptics (“state-centric” theorists) vs. strong globalization thesis (“retreat” theorists)

15. Classifying States: Sørensen • Advanced capitalist states: From modern to post-modern • Weak post-colonial states: The lack of ‘stateness’ • Modernizing states: Between post-colonialism and post-modernism