The Dynamics of States The Formation and Crises of State Domination

State domination in the non-Western world is hallmarked by its constantly shifting character. This stimulating book develops a new approach to the study of state formation and state erosion to explain dynamics that neither follow the pathways of development nor the rule of stagnation that dependency theory once suggested. Carefully edited by Klaus Schlichte, this book provides a fresh angle to the study of states with an attempt to 'overcome Weber with Weber'. The approach focuses on the historical authenticity of states and their institutional frameworks, describing the trajectories taken as they react to the effects of changes in their international and local social environments. The emphasis laid on the specific characteristics of individual states does not however lead to the theoretical difficulty of a new contextual relativism. The conceptual design employs sociological categories developed by Max Weber, Norbert Elias, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu and others.

Contents: Rethinking the State, Joel Migdal and Klaus Schlichte; Whose Statesis it? Hindu-nationalist violence and populism in India, Julia Eckert; The 'privatization' of the state: North Africa in comparative perspective, Beatrice Hibou; The State against itself: market reforms and the juridicialization of politics in Mexico, Tom Lewis; The Phoenix State: war economy and state formation in Liberia, François Prkic; The rise of the social and the banalization of the State in China, Jean-Louis Rocca; Uganda - a State in suspense, Klaus Schlichte; Boundaries of State and military in Pakistan, Boris Wilke; Index.

Klaus Schlichte is Director of Young Scholar Group 'Micropolitics of Armed Groups', in the Institute for Social Sciences, at Humboldt University at Berlin, Germany.