Topic
Infrastructural power
About: Infrastructural power is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 121 publications have been published within this topic receiving 9347 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
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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: 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.
1,691 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, three distinct analytical lenses of infrastructural power can be derived from Mann's definitions: infrastructure power as the capabilities of the central state, as the territorial reach of the state, and as the effects of state on society.
Abstract: Michael Mann’s infrastructural power is a concept often applied but rarely rigorously conceptualized and precisely measured. Three distinct analytical lenses of infrastructural power can be derived from his definitions: infrastructural power as the capabilities of the central state, as the territorial reach of the state, and as the effects of the state on society. Exemplary texts applying each of these approaches are used to demonstrate their connection to Mann’s ideas, the relationships between these dimensions, and the boundaries between this and other aspects of the state’s strength. Moving from conceptualization to measurement, the paper shows the costs of common errors in the measurement of infrastructural power, and develops guidelines for its proper empirical application.
201 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the inability of states to provide security and establish a presence throughout their territory has left local communities vulnerable to warlords and militias and undermined the prospect of economic growth and basic social provision.
Abstract: States are central to development and human well-being. In Afghanistan, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which for many contemporary commentators epitomize weak or fragile states, the inability to provide security and establish a presence throughout their territory has left local communities vulnerable to warlords and militias and undermined the prospect of economic growth and basic social provision. Other states, for instance Nicaragua, Nigeria, and Peru, have been better able to bring an end to enduring cycles of civil violence and warfare. Yet the provision of basic security and public goods remains fragmented and confined to certain territorial areas, leaving out substantial parts of the population. Unlike these countries, a wide range of others, including Costa Rica and the Indian state of Kerala, while by no means endowed with a strong state by any conventional means, St Comp Int Dev DOI 10.1007/s12116-008-9030-z
199 citations