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).

The Liberal Government of Unfreedom

Abstract: Perhaps the most influential aspect of Michel Foucault's work on government has been his treatment of liberalism as a distinctive form of political reason. Liberalism is commonly regarded as a normative political doctrine or theory that treats the maintenance of individual liberty as an end in itself and therefore views liberty as setting limits of principle both to the legitimate objectives of government and to the manner in which those objectives may be pursued. Foucault's account of liberalism as a rationality of government also accords central place to individual liberty, which is seen as giving rise to a prudential concern that one might be governing too much. The suggestion is that, rather than pursue its objectives through the detailed regulation of conduct in the manner of police, it might be more effective for the government of a state to work through the maintenance and promotion of certain forms of individual liberty. According to this account, underlying the liberal fear of governing too much are two distinct but related perceptions of the population to be governed. It is seen first as containing a number of self-regulating domains of social interaction, and secondly as consisting of individuals endowed with a capacity for autonomous, self-directing activity. In liberal political thought, Foucault observes, the market epitomizes both perceptions, serving, in effect, as "a locus of privileged experience where one can identify the effects of excessive governmentality."1 Liberal political reason, then, sees individual liberty as a limit, not simply to the legitimate reach of government, but also to its effectiveness. More recent scholars have adapted this account of liberalism to the analysis of neoliberal attempts to govern through the decisions of autonomous individuals.

Democracy Transformed?: Expanding Political Opportunities in Advanced Industrial Democracies

Abstract: Foreword INTRODUCTION 1. New Forms of Democracy?: Reform and Transformation of Democratic Institutions PART I: ELECTORAL CHANGE 2. Expanding the Electoral Marketplace 3. Making Elections More Direct? Reducing the Role of Parties in Elections 4. Political Parties and the Rhetoric and Realities of Democratization 5. Changing Party Access to Politics PART II: CHANGE IN NON-ELECTORAL INSTITUTIONS 6. Toward More Open Democracies: The Expansion of Freedom of Information Laws 7. The Decentralization of Governance: Regional and Local Delegation 8. Reforming the Administrative State 9. Participation, Representative Democracy, and the Courts PART III: THE CONSEQUENCES OF POLITICAL REFORM 10. A Second Transformation of Democracy 11. Democratic Publics and Democratic Institutions: New Forms or Adaptation

The Politicization of Islam: Reconstructing Identity, State, Faith, and Community in the Late Ottoman State

Abstract: Combining international and domestic perspectives, this book analyzes the transformation of the Ottoman Empire over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It views privatization of state lands and the increase of domestic and foreign trade as key factors in the rise of a Muslim middle class, which, increasingly aware of its economic interests and communal roots, then attempted to reshape the government to reflect its ideals.

The Population Ecology of Gucci Gulch, or the Natural Regulation of Interest Group Numbers in the American States

Abstract: Theory: The theory of population ecology (in contrast to economic theories of groups) is used to predict the number of interest groups in the United States. Hypotheses: Interest-group density is a function of potential constituents, potential government goods and services, the stability of the political system, government age, and government size. Methods: Regression analysis of U.S. state data for interest groups in construction, agriculture, manufacturing, welfare, the environment, and local governments. Results: Interest group density conforms to the predictions based on population ecology (constituents, government goods and services, and political stability), but not those based on economic theories of group mobilization.

Degrees of statehood

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between statehood and the international system, with particular reference to the states of sub-Saharan Africa. It suggests, as the title implies, that statehood should be regarded as a relative concept; and that rather than distinguish sharply between entities that are, and are not, states, we should regard different entities as meeting the criteria for international statehood to a greater or lesser degree. Entities which we have been accustomed to regard as states, at least for the purposes of studying them in international relations, sometimes fail to exercise even the minimal responsibilities associated with state power, while those who control them do not behave in the way that is normally ascribed to the ‘rulers’ of states. Entities that are not accorded the status of states, such as guerrilla insurgencies or even voluntary organizations, may take on attributes that have customarily been associated with sovereign statehood. This conclusion carries at least a salutary warning against too readily ascribing the supposedly universal characteristics of states to peripheral areas of the modern global system, in which the categories in which we are accustomed to regard international politics have become blurred. More broadly, given the peculiar and privileged position of states in the conventional analysis of international relations, it may carry significant implications for the idea of international relations itself.