Core Issues in Comparative Politics
(PO233)
Module Director: Dr. Renske Doorenspleet
Associate Professor in Comparative Politics
director Centre for Studies in Democratization
Department of Politics and International Studies
University of Warwick, UK
www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/staff/doorenspleet/
www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/csd/
e-mail: renske.doorenspleet@warwick.ac.uk
Content Lecture & Seminar
week 7
(A) Lecture week 7
(B) Seminar week 7
(C) Information lecture/seminar week 8
(D) interesting statements on basis of lecture and seminar week 7
(A) Lecture week 7
lecture:
1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
2. Globalization and the Future of the Nation-State
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
Dalai Lama:
"As I have often
said, Tibet belongs
to Tibetans, and
especially to those
who are in Tibet."
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
State:
Max Weber: "....ein auf das Mittel der legitimen (das
heisst: als legitim angesehenen) Gewaltsamkeit
gestütztes Herrschaftsverhältnis von Menschen über
Menschen"
[ "a relation of men dominating men, a relation
supported by means of legitimate (i.e. considered to
be legitimate) violence" - Max Weber: Politik als
Beruf, 1919 ]
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
State (Weber; see also Poggi 2008):
1. Territory
2. People (nation or nations)
3. Monopoly on exercise of force
4. Legitimacy, as perceived by the governed
5. Sovereignty - Control over a territory –
internal and external
(6. international recognition, e.g. by the UN)
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
A state?
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
A state?
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
A state?
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
Nation
(Anderson 1991; see also Poggi 2008):
The social construction of a collective
identity;
An imagined political community [that is]
imagined as both inherently limited
and sovereign
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
Nation
(Anderson 1991; see also Poggi 2008):
1. Imagined because members have mental
image of their affinity
2. Limited, as nations have "finite, if elastic
boundaries, beyond which lie other nations“
3. sovereign insofar as no dynastic monarchy
can claim authority over them
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
Nation
(Anderson 1991; see also Poggi 2008):
4. Finally, a nation is an imagined community
because "regardless of the actual inequality and
exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is
always conceived as a deep, horizontal
comradeship. Ultimately it is this fraternity that
makes it possible, over the past two centuries, for
so many millions of people, not so much to kill, as
willingly to die for such limited imaginings.
(A) 1. State, Nation and the Nation-State
Creation Nation:
possible because of "print-capitalism“
(Anderson 1991)
Creation State:
- Three main phases in Europe (Poggi 2008,
pp. 96-104)
- Five paths in state formation (Daalder 1991,
see Poggi 2008, p. 93)
(A) 2. Globalization & Future of the Nation-State
concept of sovereign nation-states is increasingly being
challenged by globalization
Globalization is a contested concept. There are three positions in
the debate (see Sorensen 2008, pp. 604-606; also for
definitions):
1. Retreat of the state position: States are losing power and
influence.
2. The state-centric position: States have even managed to
expand their capacities for regulation and control.
3. Pragmatic position: Process of state transformation. States are
“winning” and “losing” at the same time.
(A) 2. Globalization & Future of the Nation-State
Sorensen (2008) argues that modern states are based on:
(1) National economy: Removal of local barriers to trade and the
building of a nation-wide infrastructure
(2) National government: A centralized system of democratic
rules and strong political-administrative capacities within a
precisely defined territory
(3) Nation: People who build a community of sentiment and a
community of citizens
(4) Sovereignty: No final political authority outside or above the
state.
(A) 2. Globalization & Future of the Nation-State
However, according to Sorensen (2008) these characteristics are
transformed by globalization
(1) The economy is increasingly embedded in cross-border
networks. “Shallow and deep integration”
(2) National government is replaced by multi-level governance
(A) 2. Globalization & Future of the Nation-State
(continued)
(3) Nation:
Globalization reinforces collective identities “above” and
“below” the nation.
There is evidence of an emerging “western civic identity” but
also of “resistant identities”.
(A) 2. Globalization & Future of the Nation-State
(continued)
(4) Sovereignty:
the rule of non-intervention is challenged in a world of multilevel governance.
But still consent of states needed!
States in process of transformation: “post-modern” states.
(B) Seminar week 8
1. Choose two countries and try to find our whether they are
nation-states as well
2. Collect ‘national symbols’ (1 or 2) or ‘nationalistic items’ (1 or
2) of your own country, or of another country you are
interested in
3. Discussion during seminar (see points above)
(D) interesting statements
on the basis of lecture and seminar week 7
•The concepts of ‘nation’, ‘state’ and ‘nation-states’ are
different and should not be used interchangeably
•The nation-state is a distinctive ‘Western story’ which was
transposed to the rest of the world
•The core concept of sovereign nation-states is increasingly
being challenged by globalization
•Globalization is a contested concept
•States continue to be utterly significant for any kind of
political or social analysis
•The changing modalities of statehood places the discipline of
CP in a new setting