Too often we think of the modern political state as a universal institution, the inevitable product of History rather than a specific creation of a very particular history. Bertrand Badie and Pierre Birnbaum here persuasively argue that the origin of the state is a social fact, arising out of the peculiar sociohistorical context of Western Europe. Drawing on historical materials and bringing sociological insights to bear on a field long abandoned to jurists and political scientists, the authors lay the foundations for a strikingly original theory of the birth and subsequent diffusion of the state.The book opens with a review of the principal evolutionary theories concerning the origin of the institution proposed by such thinkers as Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. Rejecting these views, the authors set forward and defend their thesis that the state was an "invention" rather than a necessary consequence of any other process. Once invented, the state was disseminated outside its Western European birthplace either through imposition or imitation. The study concludes with concrete analyses of the differences in actual state institutions in France, Prussia, Great Britain, the United States, and Switzerland.

The Sociology of the State (Chicago Original Paperbacks)

Politics & Social Sciences

Badie, Bertrand

Birnbaum, Pierre

Anthropology

University of Chicago Press

Too often we think of the modern political state as a universal institution, the inevitable product of History rather than a specific creation of a very particular history. Bertrand Badie and Pierre Birnbaum here persuasively argue that the origin of the state is a social fact, arising out of the peculiar sociohistorical context of Western Europe. Drawing on historical materials and bringing sociological insights to bear on a field long abandoned to jurists and political scientists, the authors lay the foundations for a strikingly original theory of the birth and subsequent diffusion of the state. The book opens with a review of the principal evolutionary theories concerning the origin of the institution proposed by such thinkers as Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. Rejecting these views, the authors set forward and defend their thesis that the state was an "invention" rather than a necessary consequence of any other process. Once invented, the state was disseminated outside its Western European birthplace either through imposition or imitation. The study concludes with concrete analyses of the differences in actual state institutions in France, Prussia, Great Britain, the United States, and Switzerland.

Social Sciences

The Imported State: The Westernization of the Political Order (Mestizo Spaces / Espaces Métissés)

This book traces the rise of the modern state―a mode of organizing political power within a closed territory―in post-Enlightenment Europe and its spread to the remainder of the world, especially colonial and postcolonial societies. The result of a long process of evolution dating back to the Roman Empire, this new form of state was characterized by the coincidence of public power and public space and the legalization of political and social relations. Intimately linked to the transformation of Western European cultures at a time when their economic might allowed them to conquer many regions of the world, the modern state provided a model that was adopted in most countries. The book analyzes the different conditions in which the modern state was grafted onto different cultural realities: a metropolitan model adopted by settlers or imposed as an instrument of colonial domination, or a representation of modernity selected by non-Western leaders out of fascination for its alleged efficiency and rationality. The author shows that, from the beginning, various logics of importation led non-Western cultures to invent their own practices of the state, thereby transforming the original model. In many countries, notably in postcolonial societies, discrepancies appeared between political actions and political representations and principles on which the state was supposed to rest. This has often led to political crises and breakdowns of legality and legitimacy, and to the formation of new types of social relations in spaces the state cannot control. At the international level, a similar phenomenon can be seen: international networks, based on trade links, religion, and culture, are now able to bypass official interstate relations.

Politics & Government

Stanford University Press

Political Science: A Global Perspective

From the award-winning team behind the International Encyclopedia of Political Science  Moving beyond mainstream "traditional" approaches to bring you a new advanced-level introduction to political science.   Political Science: A Global Perspective is a perfect introduction for postgraduates who are new to political science, as well as upper-level undergraduates looking to broaden and deepen their understanding of core topics.  This progressive account:  Guides readers through all key areas of political science: origins, methodological foundations, key topics, and current issues Takes an international and pluralist perspective with all issues explored in a comparative way related to different cultural and historical contexts Includes pulled-out descriptions of major concepts, further reading and self-assessment questions at the end of each chapter

Berg-Schlosser, Dirk

Morlino, Leonardo A.

Sage Publications Ltd.

From the award-winning team behind the International Encyclopedia of Political Science Moving beyond mainstream "traditional" approaches to bring you a new advanced-level introduction to political science. Political Science: A Global Perspective is a perfect introduction for postgraduates who are new to political science, as well as upper-level undergraduates looking to broaden and deepen their understanding of core topics. This progressive account: <ul>
<li>Guides readers through all key areas of political science: origins, methodological foundations, key topics, and current issues</li> <li>Takes an international and pluralist perspective with all issues explored in a comparative way related to different cultural and historical contexts</li> <li>Includes pulled-out descriptions of major concepts, further reading and self-assessment questions at the end of each chapter</li> </ul>

China's growing power and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have thrust geopolitics back to the centre of the global stage, but the old geopolitical frameworks, with their positivist methods and their emphasis on structural determinants, will not enable us to understand the increasingly dangerous world in which we are living today. Bertrand Badie argues that states and the many other actors now operating in the international arena are products of their cultural contexts and political traditions.&nbsp; Their perspectives and motivations are shaped by the narratives, memories and emotions that constitute people's everyday realities; they are therefore profoundly subjective in character and cannot be reduced to the categories of behaviour posited by traditional geopolitical frameworks like realist IR theory. In Badie's view, international disputes in the twenty-first century are better understood through the concept of the 'battle for meaning', confrontations between different modes of understanding the world.&nbsp; His judgement is that peace and stability depend on greater sensitivity to the worldview and international perspective of other actors in the international arena. A willingness to try to see the world from the subjective perspective of one's friends, rivals and even one's enemies is vital. This timely and engaging book by one of the world's leading scholars of international relations will be of great interest to students and scholars in politics and IR and to anyone concerned about the growing tensions in the world today.

A Subjective Approach to International Relations: The Battle for Meaning

Polity

In international relations (IR), some states often deny the legal status of others, stigmatising their practices or even their culture. Such acts of deliberate humiliation at the diplomatic level are common occurrences in modern diplomacy. In the period following the breakup of the famous 'Concert of Europe', many kinds of club-based diplomacy have been tried, all falling short of anything like inclusive multilateralism. Examples of this effort include the G7, G8, G20 and even the P5. Such 'contact groups' are put forward as if they were actual ruling institutions, endowed with the power to exclude and marginalise.Today, the effect of such acts of humiliation is to reveal the international system's limits and its lack of diplomatic effectiveness. The use of humiliation as a regular diplomatic action steadily erodes the power of the international system. These actions appear to be the result of a botched mixture of a colonial past, a failed decolonisation, a mistaken vision of globalisation and a very dangerous post-bipolar reconstruction.Although this book primarily takes a social psychology approach to IR, it also mobilizes the resources of the French sociological tradition, mainly inspired by Emile Durkheim. It is translated from Le temps des humiliés. Pathologie des relations internationales (Paris, Odile Jacob, 2014).

Humiliation in International Relations: A Pathology of Contemporary International Systems (French Studies in International Law)

Foreign & International Law

Hart Publishing

Humiliation in International Relations: A Pathology of Contemporary International Systems (French Studies in International Law, 6)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Badie, Bertrand. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Badie, Bertrand

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Badie, Bertrand. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Sociology of the State (Chicago Original Paperbacks)

The Sociology of the State (Chicago Original Paperbacks)

The Imported State: The Westernization of the Political Order (Mestizo Spaces / Espaces Métissés)

The Imported State: The Westernization of the Political Order (Mestizo Spaces / Espaces Métissés)

Political Science: A Global Perspective

Political Science: A Global Perspective

A Subjective Approach to International Relations: The Battle for Meaning

A Subjective Approach to International Relations: The Battle for Meaning

Humiliation in International Relations: A Pathology of Contemporary International Systems (French Studies in International Law)

Humiliation in International Relations: A Pathology of Contemporary International Systems (French Studies in International Law, 6)