Modern State Formation Research Articles

Assembling Paperwork and Material Infrastructures: A New Materialist Inquiry on Modern State Formation

Assembling Paperwork and Material Infrastructures: A New Materialist Inquiry on Modern State Formation

The global spread of national universities: modern state formation and geopolitical anxieties in higher education policy

ABSTRACT Between the university's mediaeval structure and its postmodern qualifiers, this paper explores the distinct institutional form of the national university. Using organisational and country data with the comparative-historical sequential method, results show that 129 out of 197 countries established a national university around modern independence with most colonising powers never have established one. Their timing and distribution point to geopolitical anxieties from both internal stability and international competition as primary motivations. The paper theorises that the creation of national universities figures within three centripetal tendencies of modern state formation: centralisation, politicisation, and homogenisation.

Globalization as a component of modern state formation: theoretical and legal aspect

Globalization as a component of modern state formation: theoretical and legal aspect

State sovereignty, statist bordering principles, and the statocentric spatio-political imaginary

In this paper I investigate the process of modern State formation focusing on the spatiality of the State, bordering in particular, and its links to State sovereignty. The State has its double origin in the collapse of the faith-based unity of Respublica Christiana in Europe and in the colonial encounter with non-European peoples of the New World. Contrary to the theories of modern State formation that consider it to be a European endogenous process, I argue that colonialism was a necessary condition for the emergence of the modern State. In particular, colonialism was essential for the emergence of the notion of sovereign equality of States among European rulers, and of the statist bordering principles of fixity and clear inside/outside distinction that were first implemented in the New World. In the paper I trace how sovereignty and bordering come together in the political form of the State, trace theoretical and practical links between the two, and explore the statocentric spatio-political imaginary.

In different states of indifference: movement, friction, and resistance

In different states of indifference: movement, friction, and resistance

Nora Elizabeth Barakat, Bedouin Bureaucrats: Mobility and Property in the Ottoman Empire

Examining modern state formation in the Middle East, historians have traditionally focused on central state institutions and nationalist movements which were predominantly centered in urban settings. Recent scholarship, however, has increasingly turned its gaze to the interior of the Ottoman and post-Ottoman territories, showing that actors and places that were historically deemed marginal to, or even threatened by, the processes of modern state-building were in fact actively involved in, if not central to, the development of state institutions. Barakat’s Bedouin Bureaucrats is a welcome contribution to this increasingly vibrant historiographical field. By rethinking the concept of the “tribe” and through stressing Bedouins’ deeply rooted historical connections to land, agriculture, and modern state institutions, her book sets new standards in studying Bedouin actors in the Middle East.

“A Bank of Trust”: Legal Practices of Ottoman Finance Between Empires

Abstract How agreements were maintained and enforced beyond state-backed systems is among the least understood aspects of Ottoman legal history. This article reveals how merchants’ engagement with Ottoman state finance intertwined private and state-backed legal practices through a letter-book written entirely in Ottoman Turkish belonging to a seventeenth-century English merchant, Peter Whitcomb, who provided financial services to Ottoman officials across the empire. As a rare example of surviving early modern mercantile correspondence in Ottoman Turkish, Whitcomb’s letters to distant officials expose Ottoman financial epistolary culture and a wide range of alternative methods of dispute resolution. By combining these letters with court records, this article shows how Ottoman finance’s layers of devolved authority themselves relied on a range of legal practices that encompassed a language of reciprocity and reputation, established Ottoman documentary forms, intercessions on an individual’s behalf, appeals to elites, petitions to the grand vizier, and appearances in Ottoman sharīʿa courts. The capacity of Ottoman state finance to incorporate a foreigner like Whitcomb into its fiscal apparatus through this breadth of legal practices further suggests that we should revisit domestic narratives of competitive early modern state formation to include inter-imperial actors.

Inventing the Grand Duchy of Finland in the 1580s: early modern state formation or medieval patterns of expressing the power

ABSTRACT In 1581 King John III of Sweden added Grand Duke of Finland to his royal title. Traditionally, this has been seen as marking the Swedish army”s victories in the Swedish-Russian war, as challenging the power and rule of Grand Duke of Muscovy Ivan IV or explained in the context of early modern state formation. This article seeks to understand the logic of taking the title of grand duke as a continuum of medieval patterns of thought about princely power and rule. Ruling lands, vassals, and people were still very much connected with the ruler’s person and princely and dynastic powers understood in the medieval way. Princely titles played a crucial role in this game of – sometimes even overlapping – powers.

Three theories of separation: Kelsen, Schmitt and Pashukanis and the historical development of the legal form

This article examines the different approaches to the relation between law, state and economy in the works of Hans Kelsen, Carl Schmitt and Evgeny Pashukanis. It begins with Kelsen’s depiction of law as a dynamic and ‘self-regulating’ system of norms, founded on his rejection of ‘dualist’ separations of state and law, before turning to Schmitt and Pashukanis’s respective critiques. For all their differences, both agree Kelsen ignores the historical basis of the law – for Schmitt, the sovereign power of ‘the political’, for Pashukanis, the social relations of commodity exchange. The article responds to these criticisms in a most un-Kelsenian manner, drawing upon historical sociological literature on early modern state formation to cast doubt on both Schmitt and Pashukanis’s historical accounts. It argues that the forms of political power and commodity exchange upon which Schmitt and Pashukanis’s theories rely were historically specific possibilities opened up by the same process of generalisation and depersonalisation of power relations that allowed for an autonomous ‘public’ system of legal norms. Thus, rather than the fixed causal ground for the development of modern law, ‘the political’ and exchange between equals exist in a relation of ‘difference-in-unity’ with the law. The article concludes that Kelsen’s notion of the Grundnorm is best explained as an attempt to capture the new possibilities and responsibilities opened up a normative system whose ultimate justification now lies only within itself.

Minorities Between State and Sharia Discourses in African Muslim Societies

Abstract This essay proposes a framework for understanding the construction of religious groups and minorities in Muslim societies through two intersecting and inter-related discourses. The first is a discourse and experience of modern state formation with roots in Africa’s colonial history. And the second is a discourse of the Other in Islamic jurisprudence and theology. It builds on Talal Asad’s thesis that a modern state discourse of secular authority does not preclude religious symbols that shape religious minorities. However, the essay goes beyond Asad by showing that Muslim reformist groups also articulate a religious discourse on minorities and religious groups. The essay argues that a discursive construction of Muslim religious minorities and groups occurs through contemporary state and Islamic reformist discourses. The article presents Egypt and Nigeria as case studies to illustrate this construction.

Police Protection Rackets and Political Modernity in Mexico

This article provides a long-term historical periodization of federal police agencies under Mexico's single-party regime (1930s–2000). Based on archival findings in Mexico and the United States, as well as interviews with former law-enforcement officials, the article documents and reflects, in particular, on the entanglements between federal policing agencies and organized crime (police protection rackets). Drawing from bandit studies and critical perspectives on policing, the article argues police protection rackets to be an integral but overlooked mechanism in Mexico's modern state-formation process. The article also hints at the important but largely overlooked role of police protection rackets in the making of capitalist modernity more generally.

The crisis of the postcolonial nation‐state and the emergence of alternative forms of statehood in the Horn of Africa

AbstractThis article contextualises the crisis of the nation‐state in Africa. It does so by foregrounding the ongoing crises of the state in the Horn of Africa as evidence of the broader challenges of statehood on the continent. The Horn of Africa is viewed as a region of conflict and instability. Yet, the dominant analyses have not considered that the region is at the forefront of alternative imaginations of political community. This article proposes that rather than labelling the Horn of Africa as a zone of violent conflict, it might be more useful to think of it as a region that offers empirical alternatives to the postcolonial African nation‐state model. African statehood has been the subject of inquiry since African countries gained independence from colonial rule. However, analyses have been characterised by misdiagnoses of the problems facing African states. Deviations from what is viewed as the ‘model’ construct of the nation‐state are seen as aberrations and are viewed in pathological terms. These normative assessments of African statehood have misdiagnosed the situation and have been limited in their ability to pronounce on what lies beyond what we see as a crisis in modern African state formation. More than any other region on the continent, the Horn of Africa is actively redefining the meaning of statehood in the current African political milieu.

Colonial Legacies and (In)security in Africa: A Cameroonian Civil War Perspective

Background: This article systematically analyzes the extent to which British and French colonial legacies influenced the outbreak of the Cameroonian civil war. Drawing on a theoretical argument that associates the likelihood of civil war with the tensions that arise from the challenges of state formation and state-building, this article revisits the process of state formation in Cameroon and argues that the Cameroonian civil war is an artifact of conflicting British and French colonial legacies.
 Purpose: This research aimed at examining the link between the British and French colonial legacies and the Cameroonian civil war.
 Methodology: This study was desk research. Secondary data sources like journal articles, databases, newspaper articles, blogs, monographs, and other internet materials were consulted. These materials were subjected to content validity before being considered and analyzed qualitatively in the study. Tilly’s warfare theory on modern state formation was used as an explanatory tool to deepen the understanding of the links between war and state formation and to better appreciate the impact of British and French colonial legacies on the processes of state formation and state-building in Cameroon.
 Findings: This paper demonstrated that although governance crises heightened tensions between British and French Cameroons, conflicting British and French colonial legacies constitute the root cause of the civil war. Anglophones have been disgruntled with the relatively low rates of investment in the Anglophone regions, political marginalization, the domination of the French language over the English language in official matters nationwide, and the ‘frenchification’ of the Anglo-Saxon education and judicial systems.
 Unique Contribution to Practice and Policy: This article suggests that it is necessary for peacebuilders and policy experts to address colonial factors when designing policies aimed at resolving the Cameroonian civil war. Dealing only with governance crises without addressing the colonial roots of the problem runs the risk of relapse to conflict in the future. Also, because the British and French colonial legacies are at the center of the crisis, there is a need for Britain and France to revisit their terms of relations with Cameroon, galvanize global resources, and harmonize efforts to influence and foster the resolution of the conflict.

Social Justice in Higher Education: Revisited, Practices, and Grievances

Social justice is a fundamental concern for ideal social structure and human rights. To develop social order and philosophical discourses, higher education is one of the holistic approaches to educating it. It elevates the level of idealized modern state formation among students. The present study was designed to examine the contexts of students about practices and malpractices of social justice in higher education. The quantitative approach was adopted to gather the data from 630 university graduates. All the data were gathered through a self-made questionnaire. The findings of the study explained that the participants were not satisfied with practices of social justice in higher education. Most of the participants expressed malpractices of social norms.Especially female students claimed their injustice experiences in higher education. The researcher recommended bold recommendations to uphold the social justice in higher education departments

Contingencies, Contradictions and Struggles for Black Freedom and Emancipation: Adwa and Decolonisation Today

In this paper we reflect on and consider Adwa from the perspective of historical and continuing international Black movements and struggles for freedom in its aftermath. Adwa and, by extension, Ethiopia more broadly became a symbol and touchtone of African anti-colonial militancy, political independence and autonomy in an anti-black world. Adwa influenced the imaginations and real struggles of black people for freedom in a multitude of complex, often contradictory ways. However, while it punctured white supermacist narratives at the global stage, internally, in an age that marked the rise of the modern state form—with its fixed territorial borders— the memory of Adwa served as a foundational moment in the formation of modern Ethiopian nationalism. It also buttressed the making of a homogenizing and assimilationist tendency of Ethiopian nationalism in the 20th century and fed into its imperial project. Internationally, Haile Selassie, at the helm of the Ethiopian imperial project in the mid-twentieth century, was taken up as a symbol of Black freedom whilst he presided over an exploitative and oppressive empire at home. With some of the questions raised by current movements for decolonisation, we ask what is different about this contemporary moment when we think about Adwa in relation to international Black movements and struggles for freedom?; how do we remember it from today in relation to Ethiopia’s nationalisms (pan Ethiopian and particular ones)?; how do we memorialize it in thinking about freedom in a country with a dominant imperial nationalist ethos?

Servants of liquidation: The clerical staff at the First Debt Office in Sweden, c. 1719–1730

The extensive use of white collar workers, such as bookkeepers and clerks, played a crucial role in the formation of modern states during the early modern period. This article focuses on the formation of a Debt Office in Sweden, which was opened in 1719 in order to administer the liquidation of the debt accrued during the previous royal regime. By utilizing the available expertise that had been working on the debt market, it was relatively easy for the new parliamentary rule to found the office. The office became part of the credit system when it interacted with various creditors. The clerical staff helped the market to function by providing intermediation, but their role became increasingly contentious. By examining the clerical staff, we learn how the authorities tried to build a trustworthy institution. The case thereby offers another perspective on credible commitment than research which concentrates on formal political institutions.

History of Joint Ownership of Forests in Finland in the Context of European Forest Commons

In Europe the history of forest commons dates back to the Middle Ages and some of them are still performing well. The formation of modern states in Europe favoured privatisation of previously communally managed property, including forest commons. Privatisation of state lands proceeded in Finland in the nineteenth century, but at the same time there was a need to establish co-owned forests to settle the landless population. The first part of the study focuses on exploring the development of the system of co-owned forests in Finland since the late nineteenth century until 2020. How has the Finnish system of co-owned forests responded to societal and economic changes during the long time frame of the study? The co-ownership of forests, called jointly owned forests in Finland, has had similarities with European and particularly with Swedish forest commons, but there have also been several differences. The second part of the study aims to approach the present Finnish system in the context of European, particularly Swedish, forest commons. Among the international research community development and special characteristics of the Finnish system of joint ownership of forests are poorly known.

Exploiting the Urban System? The Frictions of Military Finance and Diplomacy in the Dutch Republic, 1688–1714

Abstract This article examines how international military finance operated in the Dutch Republic between 1688–1714. The region’s unique urban geography in which the political and financial infrastructures crucial for military financing were geographically dispersed created stresses and strains. These inconveniences were overcome due to the Republic’s excellent intra-urban infrastructure – creating fast and reliable communication between the different urban centers – and their reliance on (semi-)private agents, the solliciteurs-militair. As a result, the urban system created a level of flexibility: credit for military purposes could be found both in The Hague and Amsterdam, rather than having to rely on a single city as was the case in London. This focus on the urban has broader historiographical importance because recent scholarship on early modern war and state formation is increasingly questioning whether the focus on political and financial centralization is necessarily the best way to understand these processes.

Overview of the research work of Prof. Fumiko Sugimoto

Professor Fumiko Sugimoto has been analysing the history of the 18th century and first half of the 19th century with a focus not only on the temporal axis but also on the relationships between specific spaces and the people who live and act as subjective agents in these spaces. During the past few years, she has been endeavouring to decipher the history in the period of transition from the early modern period to the modern period by introducing the perspective of oceans, with a focus on Japan. Through the study of history in terms of spatial theory that also takes oceans into consideration, she is proposing to present a new concept about the territorial formation of modern states. [Main subjects] Law and Governance in Early Modern Japan Judgement in Early Modern Society The Evolution of Control over Territory under the Tokugawa State A Human Being in the Nineteenth Century: WATANABE Kazan, a Conflicting Consciousness of Status as an Artist and as a Samurai Early Modern Maps in the Social-standing-based Order of Tokugawa Japan The World of Information in Bakumatsu Japan: Timely News and Bird's Eye Views Early Modern Political History in Terms of Spatial Theory The Emergence of Newly Defined Oceans and the Transformation of Political Culture.

REFINING THE NATIONALISM: CLASSICAL “VERSUS” CONTEMPORARY NATIONALISM

The resurgence of nationalism in the shape of neo-nationalism and right-wing political parties in Europe and the United States at the end of the twentieth century, followed by similar tendencies in other parts of the world, raises the question of why nationalism is regaining favor again. According to classical nationalism viewpoint, the nationalism term is used to conceptualize the nation-state as the modern state formation that emerged since the 18th century. Though it retains the same ambiguity as classical nationalism, the rise of neo-nationalism in contemporary politics is intriguing and increases interest in studying nationalism, which fails to distinguish between state-nationalism (statist nationalism) and cultural-nationalism (cultural nationalism), each with its own vision and ideals It is also necessary to define the differences between the two types of nationalism, including the debates over Geerzt and Sidel about the future of nationalism in post-colonial countries.KEYWORDS: Nationalism, nation-state, contemporary culture, Indonesia