The autonomous power of the state: its origins, mechanisms and results
01 Nov 1984-Archives Europeennes De Sociologie (Cambridge University Press)-Vol. 25, Iss: 02, pp 185-213
TL;DR: In this article, the authors specify the origins, mechanisms and results of the autonomous power which the state possesses in relation to the major power groups of "civil society" and argue that state autonomy, of both despotic and infrastructural forms, flows principally from the state's unique ability to provide a territorially centralised form of organization.
Abstract: This essay tries to specify the origins, mechanisms and results of the autonomous power which the state possesses in relation to the major power groupings of ‘civil society’. The argument is couched generally, but it derives from a large, ongoing empirical research project into the development of power in human societies. At the moment, my generalisations are bolder about agrarian societies; concerning industrial societies I will be more tentative. I define the state and then pursue the implications of that definition. I discuss two essential parts of the definition, centrality and territoriality, in relation to two types of state power, termed here despotic and infrastructural power. I argue that state autonomy, of both despotic and infrastructural forms, flows principally from the state's unique ability to provide a territorially-centralised form of organization.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify some common traits of the welfare states of Italy, Spain, Por tugal and Greece, with special attention to in stitutional and political aspects, and propose a model to compare them.
Abstract: This article tries to identify some common traits of the welfare states of Italy, Spain, Por tugal and Greece, with special attention to in stitutional and political aspects.
2,588 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the Durability of ethnic communities in pre-modern and modern history, including the formation of small nations, and their formation in the modern era.
Abstract: Preface. Note to Maps. Maps. Introduction. 1. Are Nations Modern?. a Modernistsa and a Primordialistsa . Ethnie, Myths and Symbols. The Durability of Ethnic Communities. Part I: Ethnic Communities in Pre--Modern Eras:. 2. Foundations of Ethnic Community. The Dimensions of Ethnie. Some Bases of Ethnic Formation. Structure and persistence of Ethnie. 3. Ethnie and Ethnicism in History. Uniqueness and Exclusion. Ethnic Resistance and Renewal. External Threat and Ethnic Response. Two Types of Ethnic Mythomoteur. 4. Class and Ethnie in Agrarian Societies. Military Mobilization and Ethnic Consciousness. Two Types of Ethnie. Ethnic Polities. 5. Ethnic Survival and Dissolution. Location and Sovereignty. Demographic and Cultural Continuity. Dissolution of Ethnie. Ethnic Survival. Ethnic Socialization and Religious Renewal. Part II: Ethnie and Nations in the Modern Era. 6. The Formation of Nations. Western Revolutions. Territorial and Ethnic Nations. Nation--Formation. The Ethnic Model. Ethnic Solidarity or Political Citizenship?. 7. From Ethnie to Nation. Politicization of Ethnie. The New Priesthood. Autarchy and Territorialization. Mobilization and Inclusion. The New Imagination. 8. Legends and Landscapes. Nostalgia and Posterity. The Sense of a The Pasta . Romantic Nationalism as an a Historical Dramaa . Poetic Spaces: The Uses of Landscape. Golden Ages: The Uses of History. Myths and Nation--Building. 9. The Genealogy of Nations. Parmenideans and Heraclitans. The a Antiquitya of Nations. Transcending Ethnicity?. A World of Small Nations. Ethnic Mobilization and Global Security. Notes. Bibliography. Index.
2,576 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1986TL;DR: The sources of social power trace their interrelations throughout human history as discussed by the authors, from neolithic times, through ancient Near Eastern civilizations, the classical Mediterranean age and medieval Europe up to just before the Industrial Revolution in England.
Abstract: Distinguishing four sources of power in human societies – ideological, economic, military and political – The Sources of Social Power traces their interrelations throughout human history In this first volume, Michael Mann examines interrelations between these elements from neolithic times, through ancient Near Eastern civilizations, the classical Mediterranean age and medieval Europe, up to just before the Industrial Revolution in England It offers explanations of the emergence of the state and social stratification; of city-states, militaristic empires and the persistent interaction between them; of the world salvation religions; and of the particular dynamism of medieval and early modern Europe It ends by generalizing about the nature of overall social development, the varying forms of social cohesion and the role of classes and class struggle in history First published in 1986, this new edition of Volume 1 includes a new preface by the author examining the impact and legacy of the work
2,186 citations
TL;DR: Even when political rule is territorial, territoriality does not necessarily entail the practices of total mutual exclusion which dominant understandings of the modern territorial state attribute to it as discussed by the authors, however, when the territoriality of the state is debated by international relations theorists, the discussion is overwhelmingly in terms of the persistence or obsolescence of the territorial state as an unchanging entity rather than in the terms of its significance and meaning in different historical-geographical circumstances.
Abstract: Even when political rule is territorial, territoriality does not necessarily entail the practices of total mutual exclusion which dominant understandings of the modern territorial state attribute to it. However, when the territoriality of the state is debated by international relations theorists the discussion is overwhelmingly in terms of the persistence or obsolescence of the territorial state as an unchanging entity rather than in terms of its significance and meaning in different historical‐geographical circumstances. Contemporary events call this approach into question. The end of the Cold War, the increased velocity and volatility of the world economy, and the emergence of political movements outside the framework of territorial states, suggest the need to consider the territoriality of states in historical context. Conventional thinking relies on three geographical assumptions ‐ states as fixed units of sovereign space, the domestic/foreign polarity, and states as ‘containers’ of societies...
1,754 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an alternative solution to the agent-structure problem, adapted from "structuration theory" in sociology, can overcome these inadequacies by avoiding both the reduction of system structures to state actors in neorealism and their reification in world-system theory.
Abstract: While neorealism and world-system theory both claim to be “structural” theories of international relations, they embody very different understandings of system structure and structural explanation. Neorealists conceptualize system structures in individualist terms as constraining the choices of preexisting state agents, whereas world-system theorists conceptualize system structures in structuralist terms as generating state agents themselves. These differences stem from what are, in some respects, fundamentally opposed solutions to the “agent-structure” or “micromacro” problem. This opposition, however, itself reflects a deeper failure of each theory to recognize the mutually constitutive nature of human agents and system structures—a failure which leads to deep-seated inadequacies in their respective explanations of state action. An alternative solution to the agent-structure problem, adapted from “structuration theory” in sociology, can overcome these inadequacies by avoiding both the reduction of system structures to state actors in neorealism and their reification in world-system theory. Structuration theory requires a philosophical basis in scientific realism, arguably the “new orthodoxy” in the philosophy of natural science, but as yet largely unrecognized by political scientists. The scientific realist/structuration approach generates an agenda for “structural-historical” research into the properties and dispositions of both state actors and the system structures in which they are embedded.
1,460 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the causes of social revolutions in France, Russia and China, and present alternatives to existing theories to explain these social revolutions, including a focus on state building and the emergence of a dictatorship in Russia.
Abstract: List of tables and maps Preface Introduction 1. Explaining social revolutions: alternatives to existing theories Part I. Causes of Social Revolutions in France, Russia and China: 2. Old-regime states in crisis 3. Agrarian structures and peasant insurrections Part II. Outcomes of Social Revolutions in France, Russia and China: 4. What changed and how: a focus on state building 5. The birth of a 'modern state edifice' in France 6. The emergence of a dictatorial party-state in Russia 7. The rise of a mass-mobilizing party-state in China Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index.
3,659 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a typology of nationalisms in industrial and agro-literature societies, and a discussion of the difficulties of true nationalism in industrial societies.
Abstract: Series Editor's Preface. Introduction by John Breuilly. Acknowledgements. 1. Definitions. State and nation. The nation. 2. Culture in Agrarian Society. Power and culture in the agro-literature society. The varieties of agrarian rulers. 3. Industrial Society. The society of perpetual growth. Social genetics. The age of universal high culture. 4. The Transition to an Age of Nationalism. A note on the weakness of nationalism. Wild and garden culture. 5. What is a Nation. The course of true nationalism never did run smooth. 6. Social Entropy and Equality in Industrial Society. Obstacles to entropy. Fissures and barriers. A diversity of focus. 7. A Typology of Nationalisms. The varieties of nationalist experience. Diaspora nationalism. 8. The Future of Nationalism. Industrial culture - one or many?. 9. Nationalism and Ideology. Who is for Nuremberg?. One nation, one state. 10. Conclusion. What is not being said. Summary. Select bibliography. Bilbliography of Ernest Gellner's writing: Ian Jarvie. Index
2,912 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1981
TL;DR: The second edition of the Second edition of The Time-Space Constitution of Social Systems as mentioned in this paper was published in 2001. But it was published only in the UK and was not available in the US.
Abstract: Preface to the Second Edition - Introduction - The Time-Space Constitution of Social Systems - Domination, Power and Exploitation: An Analysis - Society as Time-Traveller: Capitalism and World History - Time- Space Distanciation and the Generation of Power - Property and Class Society - Time, Labour and the City - Capitalism: Integration, Surveillance and Class Power - The Nation-State, Nationalism and Capitalist Development - The State: Class Conflict and Political Order - Between Capitalism and Socialism: Contradiction and Exploitation - Notes and References - Index
1,586 citations
TL;DR: The authors compare the experience of major European states between 1500 and 1900 with respect to war-making, policing, taxation, control of food supply, and recruitment and training of professionals and officials.
Abstract: Studies of political development have traditionally focused on emerging countries with the shortest histories and poorest documentary records. This book brings the discussion into a realm where the time span is considerable and the documentation is vast--the formation of national states in western Europe. Through a series of essays on major state-making activities, the authors ask what processes and preconditions brought powerful national states, rather than some other form of political organization, into a dominant position in western Europe. The essays compare the experience of major European states between 1500 and 1900 with respect to war-making, policing, taxation, control of food supply, and recruitment and training of professionals and officials. The aim is to determine how well that experience fits available models of political change, especially ideas of political development.
1,429 citations