Does War Make States?: Investigations of Charles Tilly's Historical Sociology

by Lars Bo Kaspersen (Editor), JeppeStrandsbjerg (Editor)

New
Hardcover
2017
$147.34

Arising from renewed engagement with Charles Tilly's canonical work on the relationship between war and state formation, this volume situates Tilly's work in a broader theoretical landscape and brings it into contemporary debates on state formation theory. Starting with Tilly's famous dictum 'war made the state, and the state made war', the book takes his claim further, examining it from a philosophical, theoretical and conceptual view, and asking whether it is applicable to non-European regions such as the Middle East, South America and China. The authors question Tilly's narrow view of the causal relationship between warfare and state-making, and use a positive yet critical approach to suggest alternative ways to explain how the state is formed. Readers will gain a comprehensive view of the most recent developments in the literature on state formation, as well as a more nuanced view of Charles Tilly's work.

Synopsis

Arising from renewed engagement with Charles Tilly's canonical work on the relationship between war and state formation, this volume situates Tilly's work in a broader theoretical landscape and brings it into contemporary debates on state formation theory. Starting with Tilly's famous dictum 'war made the state, and the state made war', the book takes his claim further, examining it from a philosophical, theoretical and conceptual view, and asking whether it is applicable to non-European regions such as the Middle East, South America and China. The authors question Tilly's narrow view of the causal relationship between warfare and state-making, and use a positive yet critical approach to suggest alternative ways to explain how the state is formed. Readers will gain a comprehensive view of the most recent developments in the literature on state formation, as well as a more nuanced view of Charles Tilly's work.

$147.34

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 02 Mar 2017
ISBN 10: 1107141508
ISBN 13: 9781107141506

Media Reviews

'This is an outstanding scholarly contribution - an important work well written and exhaustively researched ... it is a new take on historical sociology in general and the important questions that have defined it for the past thirty years.' Miguel A. Centeno, Princeton University, New Jersey
'Charles Tilly's claim that war-making helped state-building has long had the status of established truth. This superb collection offers several challenges - both in the European core and in other civilizations - that make us rethink matters. The book will, for sure, gain a wide readership.' John A. Hall, McGill University, Montreal

Author Bio

Lars Bo Kaspersen trained as a sociologist and is now a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen, where he teaches history, politics and sociology. His research interests are in the transformation of the welfare state, the sociology of war and civil society. His most recent book is Denmark in the World (2013). Jeppe Strandsbjerg trained as a political scientist and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Business and Politics at Copenhagen Business School. His research interests are in arctic geopolitics and the spatiality of the sovereign territorial state. He has published articles in several journals, including Geopolitics and the Journal of Power.