300079 The State of Politics and the Politics of States: European and Global Perspectives (S) (WiSe 2010/2011)

Has globalization ended the rise of the nation-state? Or is the nation-state itself a result of globalization? Globalization provides fresh fuel to old debates about the relationship between the state and society. While the realm of politics in world society is neither confined to a particular state nor to inter-state relations, the concept of the state retains an indispensable place in political sociology. It is however not altogether clear what the concept refers to: to the general and inevitable form of politics in the modern world polity – or merely to a practical, if sometimes misleading, shorthand for a staggering variety of regimes? In this seminar we want to address the question of domestic and global politics around the state in contemporary world society. We will discuss theories of the state in world society and examine various forms and trajectories of statehood around the world, particularly in non-European contexts, as well as the interaction between classic state politics with new, transnational political actors and strategies.

Bibliography

Mann, Michael (1997): Has globalization ended the rise and rise of the nation-state? in Review of International Political Economy, 4 (3), S. 472-496.
Sassen, Saskia (2006): Territory, Authority, Rights. From Medieval to Global Assemblages, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.