State Formation

Abstract

Most social scientists would agree that the state consists of a set of ongoing institutions for social control and authoritative decision-making and implementation. Beyond this basic description, the concept of the state becomes multidimensional. The modern state emerged in Western Europe in the fifteenth–sixteenth centuries and became more firmly grounded in the seventeenth century. Its development is intimately linked to the political, economic, intellectual, and religious developments of the time. Theorists differ about the dynamic of the formation of the state and its consequences for domestic and international affairs over given historical periods. Because state formation and reformation is continuous, it is useful to examine how and why state formation took shape among the ‘old’ states, as well as how the ‘new’ postcolonial states address state formation in the light of contemporary exigencies. Today state formation and reformation vies with the forces for regional integration (Europe) and globalization, brought on by global commerce and the revolutions in communication and technology. State formation continues to be a work in progress.