The Nation State And The Crisis Of World Politics

This innovative new text is derived from a highly successful Open University course of the same title. It takes as a dominant theme the contested issue of ‘globalization’ (the apparent intensification of global patterns of inter-dependence) and its implications for the autonomy of the modern nation-state. Following a conceptual introduction, which critically examines the theoretical debates framing the study of world politics, the work is structured around four key processes of globalization which the authors identify as being the central determinants of contemporary global politics. These key processes are: the global impact of great power relations; the globalizing tendencies of technological innovation; the existence of a global economy; and the globalizing force of modernity. Reflecting this structure the text is organized into four discrete sections. Each section explores, both theoretically and empirically, one of the four processes of globalization. Throughout, particular attention is paid both to a critical evaluation of these globalizing processes as well as to their consequences for the sovereignty and autonomy of the modern nation-state. Moreover, the authors combine a lucid treatment of theoretical debates with topical case-study material to produce a text which is extremely accessible to undergraduate students studying international relations and politics and to those readers with little prior knowledge of world affairs.

Bringing the Nation Back In takes as its starting point a series of developments that shaped politics in the United States and Europe over the past thirty years: the end of the Cold War, the rise of financial and economic globalization, the creation of the European Union, and the development of the postnational. This book contends we are now witnessing a break with the post-1945 world order and with modern politics. Two competing ideas have arisen—global cosmopolitanism and populist nationalism. Contributors argue this polarization of social ethos between cosmopolitanism and nationalism is a sign of a deeper political crisis, which they explore from different perspectives. Rather than taking sides, the aim is to diagnose the origins of the current impasse and to "bring the nation back in" by expanding what we mean by "nation" and national identity and by respecting the localizing processes that have led to national traditions and struggles.

To date, the world can lay claim to little more than 190 sovereign independent entities recognized as nation-states, while by some estimates there may be up to eight hundred more nation-state projects underway and seven to eight thousand potential projects. Why do a few such endeavors come to fruition while most fail? Standard explanations have pointed to national awakenings, nationalist mobilizations, economic efficiency, military prowess, or intervention by the great powers. Where Nation-States Come From provides a compelling alternative account, one that incorporates an in-depth examination of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and their successor states. Philip Roeder argues that almost all successful nation-state projects have been associated with a particular political institution prior to independence: the segment-state, a jurisdiction defined by both human and territorial boundaries. Independence represents an administrative upgrade of a segment-state. Before independence, segmental institutions shape politics on the periphery of an existing sovereign state. Leaders of segment-states are thus better positioned than other proponents of nation-state endeavors to forge locally hegemonic national identities. Before independence, segmental institutions also shape the politics between the periphery and center of existing states. Leaders of segment-states are hence also more able to challenge the status quo and to induce the leaders of the existing state to concede independence. Roeder clarifies the mechanisms that link such institutions to outcomes, and demonstrates that these relationships have prevailed around the world through most of the age of nationalism.

This book recovers the history of realist theorization on nationalism and the nation-state. Presented in a sequence of snapshots and illustrated by examples drawn from the foreign policy of great powers, this history is represented by four key realist thinkers. It uses the centrality of power in realism as a starting point to claim, contrary to conventional wisdom about realism, that for realists the state is better understood not as a political unit outside history but rather as a manifestation of power unfixed in time. It also claims that the process of gradual impoverishment of the concept of power from classical to structural realism had profound implications for realism, as what the latter gained in parsimony it lost in analytical purchase. As a result, elaborate understandings of nationalism and its relation to the state are replaced by one-dimensional approaches. In order to offer meaningful engagement with foreign policy, neorealists often have to resort to the recovery of some of the complexity of classical realist accounts.

Traces the genesis of the nation-state, its rise as a form of organization and its expansion from Europe to America, Asia and Africa. Drawing on historical, economic and political analysis of the nation-state and its enemies, the authors argue that the time has come for a reappraisal of its role.

The first English translation of the 1993 French publication speculating on the future demise of the nation-state. GuThenno contends that economic globalization implies a future without geographical boundaries, and a restructuring of political power. He discusses the European Union as an example of

General Introduction. Part I. Globalization and State Power: Competing Paradigms. Part Introduction. 1. Thomas L. Friedman, "The New System," The Lexus and the Olive Tree. 2. Samuel P. Huntington, "The New Era in World Politics", The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order. 3. Joseph P. Stiglitz, "Broken Promises," Globalization and Its Discontents. 4. John J. Mearsheimer, "Anarchy and the Struggle for Power," The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. 5. Saskia Sassen, "Global Cities and Survival Circuits," Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russsell Hochschild, eds. Global Woman. Part II. From Autonomy to Multi-level Governance. Part Introduction. 6. Stephen D. Krasner, "Sovereignty and Its Discontents," Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy. 7. David Held, "Political Globalization, Global Covenant. 8. Paul Carmichael, "Briefing Paper: Multi-level Governance." Part III. State Power in the Era of Globalization: Case Studies. Part Introduction. Globalization and the Exercise of American Power. 9. G. John Ikenberry, "Liberal hegemony and the future of the American postwar order," from T.V. Paul and John A. Hall, eds. International Order and the Future of World Politics. 10. Robert Hunter Wade, America's Empire Rules an Unbalanced World. 11. Joseph P. Nye, "Redefining the National Interest," The Paradox of American Power. 12. Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay, America Unbound: The Bush Reveoplution in Foreign Policy. Globalization and European Integration. 13. George Ross, "European Integration and Globalization". 14. David P. Calleo, "Europe in the New World Order". 15. Kalypso Nicolaïdis, "We, the Peoples of Europe ...," Foreign Affairs. East Asia: the Paradox of State Power. 16. T.J. Pempel, "Introduction," T.J. Pempel, ed. The Politics of the Asian Economic Crisis. 17. Linda Weiss, "State Power and the Asian Crisis," New Political Economy. 18. Claude Smadja, "The End of Complacency," Foreign Policy. Part IV. Post-9/11: Terror, War and Empire. Part Introduction. Globalization, Terror and the Use of Force. 19. Audrey Kurth Cronin, "Behind the Curve: Globalization and International Terrorism," International Security. 20. The National Security Strategy of the United States of America. 21. John Lewis Gaddis, "A Grand Strategy of Transformation," Foreign Policy. 22. Chris Brown, "Self-Defense in an Imperfect World, "Ethics & International Affairs. 23. International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, "The Responsibility to Protect: The Way Forward," The Responsibility To Protect: Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. Globalization, Empire, and America's Geopolitical Strategy. 24. Niall Ferguson, "The Empire Slinks Back," The New York Times Magazine. 25. Michael Ignatieff, "Why Are We In Iraq? (And Liberia? And Afghanistan?), New York Times Magazine. 26. Zbigniew Brzezinski, "Domination or Leadership," The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership.