Topic
State (polity)
About: State (polity) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 36954 publications have been published within this topic receiving 719822 citations. The topic is also known as: state (polity).
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors construct a model in which the state apparatus is controlled by a self-interested ruler, who tries to divert resources for his own consumption, but who can also invest in socially productive public goods.
337 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue for a different starting point, one that favours a topological understanding of state spatiality over more conventional topographical accounts, arguing that states possess reach, not height.
Abstract: Multi-scalar or multi-site power relations offer two contrasting ways of understanding the shifting geography of state power. In this paper, we argue for a different starting point, one that favours a topological understanding of state spatiality over more conventional topographical accounts. In contrast to a vertical or horizontal imagery of the geography of state power, what states possess, we suggest, is reach, not height. In doing so, we draw from Sassen (2006, Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages, Princeton University Press) a vocabulary capable of portraying the renegotiation of powers that has taken place between central government in the UK and one of its key city regions, the South East of England; one that highlights an assemblage of political actors, some public, some private, where negotiations take place between elements of central and local actors 'lodged' within the region, not acting 'above', 'below' or 'alongside' it. The articulation of political demands in such a context has less to do with 'jumping scale' or formalizing extensive network connections and more to do with the ability to reach directly into a 'centralized' politics where proximity and reach play across one another in particular ways.
334 citations
Book•
03 May 1990
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the centralist paradigm is fundamentally flawed in its theories of the basis of social order, the sources of political unity and the origins of economic development, and examine the constitutional principles that might provide a basis for more effective national government throughout the African continent.
Abstract: After nearly three decades of post-colonial independence in Africa, the shortcomings of the centralist strategy of nation building and economic development have become evident. Development has stagnated, rural welfare has declined, ethnic conflicts have intensified, civil wars abound and many civilian regimes have fallen to military despotisms or rule as narrow oligarchies. This book seeks to explains why the centralized African state has failed. Contributors relate contemporary African history to theories of organizational behaviour, collective action, constitutional choice, public administration and institutional analysis, arguing that the centralist paradigm is fundamentally flawed in its theories of the basis of social order, the sources of political unity and the origins of economic development. The contributors discuss the breakdown of social processes and structures indirectly caused by the policies of the centralized state and examine the constitutional principles that might provide a basis for more effective national government throughout the African continent.
333 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine security and citizenship in the UK and compare the security games of the Cold War with the governmentality of social security, arguing that these games exist in tension with one another.
Abstract: What implications do emerging spaces, concepts and identities of security have for the practice of citizenship? This article examines security and citizenship in the UK. As its focus it takes a recent White Paper published by the British government called Secure Borders, Safe Haven (2002). Two arguments are developed. First, it is argued that with this document, and the reforms it proposes for immigration, asylum and citizenship in the UK, we are in the presence of ‘domopolitics’. Whereas political economy is descended from the will to govern the state as a household, domopolitics aspires to govern the state like a home. Consequently, domopolitics and liberal political economy exist in tension with one another. Second, we need new forms of comparison if we are to adequately map domopolitics. To this end, the article compares the domopolitics of the homeland and similar securitizations not with the interstate security games of the Cold War, but with the governmentality of social security.
333 citations
TL;DR: From 1900 to 1987, state, quasi-state, and stateless groups have killed in democide (genocide, massacres, extrajudicial executions, and the like) nearly 170,000,000 people.
Abstract: From 1900 to 1987, state, quasi-state, and stateless groups have killed in democide (genocide, massacres, extrajudicial executions, and the like) nearly 170,000,000 people. Case studies and quantit...
332 citations