The Formation of National States in Western Europe

The Formation of National States in Western Europe
Author: Gabriel Ardant
Publisher: Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 738
Release: 1975
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Nine essays examine and evaluate, in relationship with current political and economic conditions, the events, processes, preconditions, and developments between 1500 and 1900 which brought about the establishment of powerful nation-states.

Does War Make States?

Does War Make States?
Author: Lars Bo Kaspersen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2017-03-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107141508

This engaging volume scrutinises the causal relationship between warfare and state formation, using Charles Tilly's work as a foundation.

Structuring the State

Structuring the State
Author: Daniel Ziblatt
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2006
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780691121673

This study explores the following puzzle: Upon national unification, why was Germany formed as a federal state and Italy a unitary state? Ziblatt's answer to this question will be of interest to scholars of international relations, comparative politics, political development, and political and economic history.

A Social History of Western Europe, 1880-1980

A Social History of Western Europe, 1880-1980
Author: Hartmut Kaelble
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 236
Release: 1990
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780717117246

Arguing that the social integration of Western Europe already exists in an advanced form, Kaelble examines eight selected aspects of society: the European family; employment structures; big business; social mobility and education; social inequality in the class system; life in European cities; the rise of the welfare state; and industrial relations. Approaching a 'European history' rather than the traditional collection of national histories, his unique and challenging view of social development will interest not only historians but also sociologists and political scientists.

The Birth of the West

The Birth of the West
Author: Paul Collins
Publisher: Public Affairs
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2013-02-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 161039013X

A narrative history of the origins of Western civilization argues that Europe was transformed in the tenth century from a continent rife with violence and ignorance to a continent on the rise.

The Dark Side of Nation-States

The Dark Side of Nation-States
Author: Philipp Ther
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2014-05-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1782383034

Why was there such a far-reaching consensus concerning the utopian goal of national homogeneity in the first half of the twentieth century? Ethnic cleansing is analyzed here as a result of the formation of democratic nation-states, the international order based on them, and European modernity in general. Almost all mass-scale population removals were rationally and precisely organized and carried out in cold blood, with revenge, hatred and other strong emotions playing only a minor role. This book not only considers the majority of population removals which occurred in Eastern Europe, but is also an encompassing, comparative study including Western Europe, interrogating the motivations of Western statesmen and their involvement in large-scale population removals. It also reaches beyond the European continent and considers the reverberations of colonial rule and ethnic cleansing in the former British colonies.

Modernism: The Creation of Nation-States

Modernism: The Creation of Nation-States
Author: Ahmet Ersoy
Publisher: Central European University Press
Total Pages: 497
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9637326618

Notwithstanding the advantages of physical power, the struggle for survival among societies is not merely a matter of serial armed clashes but of the nation's spiritual resources that in the end always decide upon the victory. In Europe, there indeed exist independent countries, insignificant from the point of view of the entire civilization, and born by sheer coincidence, yet, this coincidence, this fancy, or diplomatic ploy that created them can just as easily bring them to an end---the nations that count in the political calculations are only the enlightened ones. Therefore, our nation should not merely grow in power, strengthen its character, and foster in people the feeling of love for homeland, but also---inasmuch as it is possible---breath the fresh breeze of humanity's general progress, feed it to the nation, absorb its creative energy. Until now, we have trusted and lived only in the weary conditions, conditions devoid of health-giving elements---now, as a result the nation's heart beats too slowly and its mind works too tediously. We ought to open our windows to Europe, to the wind of continental change and allow it to air our sultry home, since as not all health comes from the inside, not all disease comes from the outside.

Education and State Formation

Education and State Formation
Author: A. Green
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 446
Release: 2013-10-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1137341750

Education has always been a key instrument of nation-building in new states. National education systems have typically been used to assimilate immigrants; to promote established religious doctrines; to spread the standard form of national languages; and to forge national identities and national cultures. They helped construct the very subjectivities of citizenship, justifying the ways of the state to the people and the duties of the people to the state. In this second edition of his seminal and widely-acclaimed book on the origins of public education in England, France, Prussia, and the USA, Andy Green shows how education has also been used as a tool of successful state formation in the developmental states of East Asia. While human capital theories have focused on how schools and colleges supply the skills for economic growth, Green shows how the forming of citizens and national identities through education has often provided the necessary condition for both economic and social development.

Blood and Debt

Blood and Debt
Author: Miguel Angel Centeno
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2015-08-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0271074191

What role does war play in political development? Our understanding of the rise of the nation-state is based heavily on the Western European experience of war. Challenging the dominance of this model, Blood and Debt looks at Latin America's much different experience as more relevant to politics today in regions as varied as the Balkans and sub-Saharan Africa. The book's illuminating review of the relatively peaceful history of Latin America from the late eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries reveals the lack of two critical prerequisites needed for war: a political and military culture oriented toward international violence, and the state institutional capacity to carry it out. Using innovative new data such as tax receipts, naming of streets and public monuments, and conscription records, the author carefully examines how war affected the fiscal development of the state, the creation of national identity, and claims to citizenship. Rather than building nation-states and fostering democratic citizenship, he shows, war in Latin America destroyed institutions, confirmed internal divisions, and killed many without purpose or glory.