(ON NOT MAKING IT) FROM DEATH TO MEANING

The relationship between the state and its inhabitants is one of the fundamental themes of political economy and New Institutional Economics. This chapter analyses what were the specific features of one case, the Dutch Republic, arguably the best example of a small state to play a disproportionately large role in the European state system in this period. It discusses the specific Western European characteristics of the process of state formation from the origin of the communes during the High Middle Ages to the final decades of the eighteenth century, when some of these concepts and ideas, reformulated by Enlightenment thinkers, played a large role in the 'Atlantic Revolution' which began in 1776. The power of a state is, evidently, not only a function of the efficiency of its ability to mobilise resources, but also dependent on its size, i.e. the amount of resources available within its boundaries.Keywords: Atlantic revolution; Dutch Republic; Middle Ages; political economy; state formation

Some historical sociologists have, with some justification, described the development of the sub‐discipline in the language of three successive “waves.” This framing implies that each wave supercedes the other across time. Given that second and third waves map onto generational distinctions, the whole idea of waves has been met with consternation from second wavers who are not ready to be superseded. In addition, there is some debate, if not confusion, over the criteria that define the waves. In this paper I suggest that the language of successive waves frustrates the potential to articulate different approaches with the aim of a more comprehensive understanding of historical societies. This is particularly the case with our understanding of states and state formation, which is the focus here. Instead of the waves framing, I suggest a strategy for articulating research agendas on state formation by conceiving of such in terms of their “centers of gravity” (or COGs)1 rather than their boundaries. I pay particular attention to the body of work that can be said to have a concern with culture as its center of gravity, a body of work that while overlapping considerably is not co‐extensive with that identified as third wave. In this context I elaborate a broad conceptual architecture of culture, at the foundation of which is the distinction between meaning, practice, and materiality. This triangulated conceptualization of culture can, I argue, clarify some ambiguities in the literature and aid articulation of three COGs in state theory. In addition, I suggest that many questions taken to be theoretical are actually empirical. I conclude by briefly illustrating the approach in the case of science and modern state formation in Ireland.

In his essay of 1958, "Was There a Renaissance State?" Federico Chabod proposed that states did emerge in Italy in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, but he was properly cautious in equating Renaissance states with modern states of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.1 He considered alien to the Renaissance state such essential features of the modern state as patriotism, national identity, and boundaries. Even the term "state," or stato, did not acquire its celebrated modem impersonality-its distinctness from the person of the ruler-until the eighteenth century.2 It was nevertheless axiomatic, Chabod argued, that Renaissance balance-of-power diplomacy was predicated on the existence of states. He was familiar with Max Weber's claim that the Italian signoria "was the first political power in Western Europe which based its regime on a rational administration with (increasingly) appointed officials."3 On the basis of Weber's sociology of the bureaucratic state and the city and Otto Hintze's studies on the formation of states and the Prussian civil service, which were still in vogue at the time he composed his essay, Chabod was led to argue that the salient characteristic of the Renaissance state was a staff of trained officials with distinctive routines and

Purpose: an attempt has been made to analyze the stages of formation of parliamentarism in connection with the formation and development of statehood, at different stages of development of civilizations, forms of its organizations and functioning. Methods: comparison, analysis, analogy, induction, deduction and others that served as a tool for material selection, and were a necessary condition for achieving this goal. Results: problems of the theory and practice of parliamentarism, as a historical and legal category, are considered from the standpoint of scientific traditions that have developed in the process of research in this area. It is explained that the legal categories, definitions used in the analysis of parliamentarism, as a historical - legal category, take into account in their content the constitutional traditions and norms of other laws, the practice of state and legal construction. Clarifications were made on the understanding of parliamentarism as a social phenomenon, which means the representative principles of governance. Discussion: experience in the development of geopolitical systems shows that the possibility of solving vital problems of national importance in one way or another, to some extent depends on the scale of the invitation to the process of making these decisions. The study of the institution of parliamentarism, forms of its organizations and functioning has always been at the center of scientific research, because parliamentarism is the legal and organizational basis for involving citizens in addressing the most important issues of state building and governance. The theory of separation of powers has become the foundation of future concepts of parliamentarism, as well as the analysis of its elements in modern conditions. Parliamentarism, which must be understood as the representative foundations in the formation of state power and governance - a historical and legal phenomenon, a consequence of the development of socio-political systems. Its emergence, development and formation is associated with the emergence, development and formation of states. In addition, parliamentarism, like any other social phenomenon, has its prehistory, the genotype of which was formed in the early stages of the history of human social existence. The history of civilizations is a silent witness to how empires arose and disappeared, dictatorial and authoritarian regimes disappeared, and the principle of the basis of power was gradually established through parliamentarism. He was and remains the main and so far no alternative has been found. From the point of view of understanding this fundamental principle of the organization of state power, one of the key issues, the object of constant research and study by various sciences, historical and legal science, is certainly the institution of parliamentarism. In addition, one of the reasons for the increased interest of scholars and politicians in the history and development of modern parliamentarism is the existence of a large number of theoretical and practical problems related to the legal and organizational formation of the national parliament, determining its constitutional status and role in government, with the development of national law schools. Therefore, it does not need unnecessary evidence of the need for in-depth analysis of the achievements of jurisprudence, both domestic and foreign, in matters of legal regulation of forms of organization and mechanism of the state as one of the means of stabilizing society, especially in the emerging states. Of course, within one article, as well as previous research by legal scholars and historians, it is impossible to cover all issues related to such a large-scale phenomenon as parliamentarism in its historical and legal sense. At the same time, in the course of our research it became clear that a number of issues of theoretical and practical nature are insufficiently studied and require efforts not only of theoretical - legal, but also of historical - legal nature. For example, in modern legal doctrine there is no single approach to defining the concept of «parliamentarism» as a historical - legal category. It is still unclear how the forms of government and parliamentarism relate to each other. Issues related to the evolution of parliamentarism from antiquity to the present require scientific analysis. The various theoretical constructions of parliamentarism and its principles, the reasons for their evolution, remain insufficiently substantiated. Also, serious scientific analysis, comprehension and generalization require processes of state formation, methods of exercising state power in countries with different forms of government.

Digital agriculture is rapidly reshaping the interface between agriculture, technology, and the modern nation-state, redefining both food systems and governance structures. This paper examines how Artificial Intelligence (AI), data-driven platforms, and digital infrastructures are transforming agricultural practices, enhancing state capacity, and influencing political power dynamics. Historically, agriculture has played a central role in state formation, from imperial agrarian control and colonial revenue systems to post-independence nation-state governance. In the contemporary digital era, AI-enabled tools such as precision farming, remote sensing, predictive analytics, and algorithmic decision-making have become critical instruments for managing agricultural production, mitigating climate risks, and strengthening food security. The study argues that digital agriculture increases the governing capacity of the nation-state by enabling centralized, data-informed policymaking. AI-driven governance allows states to monitor land, crops, and farmers in real time, anticipate food shortages, optimize resource allocation, and respond more efficiently to environmental variability. By integrating technology with policy, governments can exercise greater control over agricultural systems, reflecting both continuity with historical agrarian governance and the introduction of new mechanisms for oversight and efficiency. At the same time, the paper highlights emerging political and ethical challenges, including data ownership, digital inequality, algorithmic bias, and the concentration of digital resources in the hands of state or corporate actors, revealing tensions between efficiency, equity, and democratic governance. Using a political economy and historical lens, the study situates AI-led agricultural transformation within the broader transition from empire to nation-state, demonstrating both continuity and change in power structures. It emphasizes that digital agriculture is not merely a set of technological tools for productivity but a strategic instrument that reshapes state authority, resource management, and social relations in the twenty-first century.

Introduction: citizenship education in review - past perspectives and future needs, Kerry Kennedy frameworks for citizenship education. Education and state formation in Europe and Asia, Andy Green the logic of protection - citizenship, justice and political community, Rob Gilbert feminism and the construction of citizenship education, Victoria Foster issues for citizenship in a postmodern world, Rob Gilbert citizenship education in England, Ken Fogelman values and citizenship education in Malaysia, Haris Md Jadi civics and citizenship education in Hong Kong, Paul Morris phoenix or shooting star? citizenship education in Australia, Murray Print citizens for a new world order - a historical perspective of citizenship education in the United States, Sherry L. Field citizenship education in Japan, Yasushi Mizoe.

For nearly all advanced industrialized nation-states, taxation is the central source of public revenue. Indeed, taxation is the one policy area without which nearly all of the other functions and aspects of the modern state would not be possible. Thus, to continue the Bourdieuian metaphor of a body politic that frames this edited volume, taxation is the lifeblood of the effective, modern, liberal state. Like blood itself, taxation does much more than provide material sustenance for the body politic. Because taxation is one of the most widely and persistently experienced relationships that individuals have with their government, it helps us define the meaning of fiscal citizenship. Taxation institutionalizes the concept of a social contract between the state and its citizens, between the sovereign and its subjects. This paper, which is part of a collection of essays, explores the central role of taxation to the development of an effective, modern state. After reviewing some of the classic social and economic literature on how taxation is the key link between war and state formation, this paper investigates how scholars have recently begun to go beyond the conventional view of taxation as simply a source of material resources, to examine the historical relationship between taxation and citizenship. There is perhaps no better example of how taxation has shaped social and cultural conceptions of fiscal citizenship than the U.S.’s adoption of direct and progressive taxation in the early twentieth century. Using the United States during this period as a case study, this paper shows how American reformers deliberately deployed a particular vision and idiom about taxation to help lawmakers and ordinary Americans reimagine the financial basis of government programs.

QUAGMIRE: Nation-Building and Nature in the Mekong Delta. By DAVID BIGGS. xviii and 300 pp.; maps, ills., bibliog., index. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2010. $23.00 (cloth), ISBN 9780295990675. In Quagmire David Biggs unfolds an environmental history equally rewarding for regional specialists and lifelong residents as well as those for whom the Mekong Delta evokes only vague memories of war. Drawn skillfully from Vietnamese, French, and archival sources augmented by contemporary on-site observations and oral histories, Quagmire provides unparalleled historical depth and detail on the coevolution of the region's environmental and political landscape, artfully composed into a narrative that connects the delta's precolonial past with the French colonial oeuvre through the convulsions of nearly a half-century of war. The book makes a significant contribution to development studies and political geography around the role of nature in nation-building projects. Biggs asks what role nature plays, as obstacle and as instrument, in state formation. How is the political geography of government authority shaped by environmental modifications enacted by nation builders and by those whom they presume to govern, especially when they are in violent opposition? What does the violence of state formation do to the environment, and what does that consequent landscape do to prop up or undermine state power? While echoing past political ecological studies in its critique of politically authoritarian, ecologically ignorant development policies, Quagmire diverges from this literature and seminal works on Mekong Delta history by placing the pacification of nature--not the peasantry--at the center of its analysis of nation building. Rather than frame his argument in familiar terms of subaltern resistance against a modernizing state, Biggs argues that nation-building projects are complex processes of environmental transformation wherein local residents are active participants in both propelling and retarding their progress. Successive nation-building attempts in the Mekong Delta partially co-opted and were partially co-opted by people on the land and modified by the exigencies of the environment, in the end profoundly transforming the political-ecological landscape of the delta despite failing to achieve their aim of forging an easily governable space out of the area's water, land, and people. With a few exceptions the book accurately translates from the Vietnamese and conveys a wealth of often-obscure geographical and historical details. Quagmire narrates the evolution of environmental modification and political power in the Mekong Delta from the establishment of Vietnamese sovereignty in the eighteenth century to the end of the American War in 1975. The introduction lays out the book's primary themes: The overlapping nature of successive nation-building projects in the delta; the dynamic of resistance and adaptation by residents to state-led environmental transformations; the repeated failures of development schemes to control the environment or the people, with each new iteration creating a more intractable set of socioecological crises. Chapter 1 describes the French conquest of the Mekong in the 1860s and subsequent attempts to disseminate France's authority. The introduction of mechanized canal dredges and the extension of existing canal projects initiated by Vietnamese authorities opened up huge areas of the delta previously inaccessible for settlement. The canals allowed authorities to circulate through the delta, creating a mobile governmental presence in the region but also accelerating population displacement and environmental calamity. Chapter 2 explains continuities and ruptures between the Vietnamese empire's settlement policies and those of the French and the radical shifts in land tenure and land cover that followed in the wake of the colonial dredges. The Mekong Delta became a society of tenants and landlords in an unstable, degraded environment that was prone to flooding and soil exhaustion exacerbated by poorly designed canal projects. …

This article explores the insights that crime fiction offers on state formation and democratic governance in modern Greece and Egypt. Despite differing historical paths after centuries of Ottoman rule, both nations experienced periods of democratic renegotiation alongside advancements in education and the press, which have been identified as factors facilitating the emergence of crime fiction. In the Interwar period, Greek author Nirvanas and Egyptian author al-Ḥakīm vernacularised the globally dominant genre in their works to critique the modern state’s failures, particularly its inability to ensure law and order. Their novels – Nirvanas’s Έγκλημα and al-Ḥakīm’s Yawmiyyāt – utilised parody to challenge the prevailing narrative of the modern state. The analysis suggests examining the role of the educated/effendiyya class, to which both authors belonged, in upholding the state and critiquing its malfunctioning. Ultimately, early works of crime fiction in the Eastern Mediterranean offer a poignant critique of state power and its ability to deliver on its promises.

This paper discusses different geopolitical approaches to the causes of war. It starts by setting forth the historical relationship between geopolitics and warfare through different authors’ contributions to introduce the main explanations of this matter. In this way, we analyze the role of geography in warfare and its impact on conflicts. That leads us to the organicist perspective, which considers the expansion of the State a natural phenomenon that engenders war. Besides, physical geography also influences war outbreak. The second approach is the disposition of emerged land, which argues that specific places are prone to warfare due to their strategic location. The third approach is the accidental view. Its authors contend that war depends on the geographical distance between countries and border conflicts. Finally, we develop a new perspective based on geopolitical fragmentation to explain the war in modern Europe. This view explores the importance of fragmentation in the formation of the modern State and the shaping of an anarchical environment with the birth of the State’s system. Warfare became a trait of the international system because the modern State was born to wage war, and it became the dominant institution. Therefore, geopolitical fragmentation is the root cause behind violence between States in modern Europe.

The final chapter spells out an urform shared by the Pentateuch’s three theocratic formations. They were formations of power which God and His people share and from which all others were excluded. This formation was constituted by its ruler and imposed on the ruled, and yet the ruler was in constant need of his subjects’ affirmation and recognition, which they often failed or refused to grant. Once constituted, this shared formation precedes and exceeds both ruler and ruled and could be reduced to either. How it came into being and how to keep it alive was a constant concern for the Pentateuch’s authors. This urform, the chapter argues, recurs in the formation of the modern state and is responsible for its deification. Like the Pentateuchal theocracies, the modern state embodies three monotheist components: monism, closure, and sanctity. Its critique should begin with acknowledging this repressed theological dimension and opening the horizon of political imagination for the coming of a global order of pagan states.

Aim of research – the study of the specificity of the professional distress influence on adaptation of a doctor-intern at the professional training.For attaining the set aim we realized the complex examination of 213 doctors-interns of the Kharkiv national medical university of both sexes, 22 - 25 years old, observing principles of bioethics and medical deontology. Methods of research: clinical-anamnestic, psycodiagnostic, statistical.Results: it was established, that women manifest the higher level of disorders of adaptation to the professional activity comparing with men. Thus, the high level of maladjustment was revealed in 9,2 % of men and 12,5 % of women; the expressed level of maladjustment - 10,3 % of men and, 14,0 % of women; the moderate level -36,2 % and 42,1 % respectively.The specificity of clinical and psychological manifestations of adaptation disorders of doctors-interns was described. Based on complaints, anamnesis data, taking into account the additional analysis of depressive and anxiety symptoms by Hamilton scales, there were separated the asthenic (25,5 %), hyperesthesic (21,6 %), anxious-depressive (16,2 %), psychosomatic (14,2 %), astheno-apathetic (11,4 %), addictive (11,1 %) types of maladjustment reactions.Conclusions: The professional distress of doctors-interns results in the formation of maladjustment states (55,7 % of men and 68,6 % of women). The high maladjustment level was revealed in 9,2 % of men and 12,5 % of women; the expressed level of maladjustment - 10,3 % of men and, 14,0 % of women; the moderate level -36,2 % and 42,1 % respectively. There were separated asthenic, hypersthesic, anxious-depressive, astheno-apathetic, psychosomatic and addictive variants of maladjustment reactions in doctors-interns

Geopolitical design as a process of developing and implementing political, economic, and military strategies targeted at strengthening the country’s position on the international arena is becoming an increasingly relevant tool for the formation and realization of states’ national interests. The purpose of this study is to identify the geopolitical determination of the foreign policy course of modern Romania. By using the historical method (conceptualization of geopolitical ideas), qualitative content analysis (National Defense Strategy 2020-2024) and discourse analysis, this article examines the theoretical and practical dimension of geopolitical projects, the emergence and development of which is associated with both Euro-Atlantic integration and the positioning of the state as a regional leader in the Eastern Europe. Special attention is paid to the consideration of foreign policy priorities and their reflection in the implementation of geopolitical aspirations. It is concluded that Romania’s desire to strengthen its position in the international arena is realized through integration into existing Euro-Atlantic geopolitical projects and the proposal of its own initiatives, and the idea of Moldova’s accession is still relevant, but has no real prospects in modern conditions.

State Formation, Theory of

Book Reviews: The New Racism: Conservatives and the Ideology of the Tribe, The Calling of Sociology and other Essays on the Pursuit of Learning, Sociological Journeys, Essays 1960–1980, Prosecution in the Public Interest, Courts, Prosecution and Conviction, Reconstructing Reality in the Courtroom, Conviction: Law, the State and the Construction of Justice, Is There a Future for Marxism?, Marxism and the