State Formations: Global Histories and Cultures of Statehood

Featuring a sweeping array of essays from scholars of state formation and development, this book presents an overview of approaches to studying the history of the state. Focusing on the question of state formation, this volume takes a particular look at the beginnings, structures, and constant reforming of state power. Not only do the contributors draw upon both modernist and postmodernist theoretical perspectives, they also address the topic from a global standpoint, examining states from all areas of the world. In their diverse and thorough exploration of state building, the authors cross the theoretical, geographic, and chronological boundaries that traditionally shape this field in order to rethink the customary macro and micro approaches to the study of state building and make the case for global histories of both pre-modern and modern state formations.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: approaches to state formations John L. Brooke and Julia C. Strauss; Part I. Definitions: 1. On the person of the state Quentin Skinner; 2. The state as a social relation Bob Jessop; 3. Was there any such thing as a non-modern state? Greg Anderson; Part II. Foundings: 4. Comparative perspectives and early states revisited Rita P. Wright; 5. (Re) introducing the state on the medieval Swahili Coast Chapurukha M. Kusimba; 6. Renaissance states of mind Michael Martoccio; 7. Bringing the sarkār back in: translating patrimonialism and the state in early modern and early colonial India Nicholas J. Abbott; 8. Revolutionary state formation: the origins of the strong American state William J. Novak and Steven Pincus; 9. The founding of non-democratic states Richard Bensel; Part III. Agendas: 10. Empire as state: the Roman case Clifford Ando; 11. Weights and measures and state formation: the view from the early American republic Stephen Mihm; 12. Mapping power: the shape of the state in the post-Civil War American South Greg P. Downs; 13. To bee or not to bee: the co-production of modern science and the modern state John F. M. Clark; 14. Taxes and the two faces of the state since the eighteenth century Yannis D. Kotsonis; 15. Regimes and repertoires of statebuilding: the two Chinas and regime consolidation in the early 1950s Julia C. Strauss; Part IV. Memberships: 16. The Mesopotamian citizen conceptualized: affect, speech and perception Seth Richardson; 17. Military mobilization and the experience of living with the Ming state Michael Szonyi; 18. Ethnicity and power in early modern Europe and Asia Victor Lieberman; 19. Patriliny and modern states in the Middle East Diane King; 20. Social service, convivialismo, and hegemony in Colombia Rebecca Tally; 21. Indian affirmative action and the postcolonial state Anupama Rao; Conclusion: notes toward a global synthesis John L. Brooke and Julia C. Strauss.

About the Author :
John L. Brooke is Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of History, Professor of Anthropology, and Director of the Center for Historical Research at the Ohio State University. He has previously explored the topic of state formation in his prize-winning books, The Heart of the Commonwealth: Society and Political Culture in Worcester County, Massachusetts, 1713-1861 (1989) and Columbia Rising: Civil Life on the Upper Hudson from the Revolution to the Age of Jackson (2010). Julia C. Strauss is Professor of Chinese Politics at School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her work on twentieth-century state building and institution building in China and Taiwan has been published widely, including Strong Institutions in Weak Polities: Statebuilding in Republican China, 1927-1940 (1998) and essays in Comparative Studies in Society and History and the Journal of Asian Studies. Greg Anderson is Associate Professor of History at Ohio State University. His work focuses on ancient Greece and historical thought. His forthcoming book, The Realness of Things Past: Ancient Greece and Ontological History, makes a case for an 'ontological turn' in historical practice.

Review :
'A genuinely global and epoch-spanning inquiry into the emergence and continuing transformations of state power, this eagerly awaited collection explodes the parochial tradition of treating modern North-Atlantic nation-states as normative. By demonstrating the diverse forms that emerging states have taken in Africa, Asia, and the Americas as well as Europe, from the ancient world until our own time, this path-breaking volume will instruct readers in multiple disciplines. Provocative, wise, and compelling, these essays challenge and rework both the Weberian focus on state autonomy and institutional capacity and Gramscian/Foucaultian claims concerning the embeddedness of the state in discourses and practices. State Formations offers a bold new framework for continuing debates.' James T. Kloppenberg, Charles Warren Professor of American History, Harvard University 'Reading through State Formations is an extraordinarily rewarding experience.' Peter Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History, Emeritus, University of Virginia 'Social science too often treats the existence of states as obvious and focuses on the societies they demarcate or their international relations. State Formations brings a broad historical and comparative perspective to show how states are made and change, how they differ, and how conventional assumptions can mislead analysis. This is a book rich in empirical cases, well-marshalled to improve new thinking and better theory.' Craig Calhoun, President, Berggruen Institute, California 'This excellent volume brings together contributions from historians and theorists in discussing a wide range of historical formations of the state …' George Steinmetz, University of Michigan