| Description |
viii, 439 pages ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
1. Before the state: prehistory to AD 1300. Tribes without rulers. Tribes with rulers (chiefdoms). City-states. Empires, strong and weak. Limits of stateless societies -- 2. The rise of the state: 1300 to 1648. The struggle against the church. The struggle against the Empire. The struggle against the nobility. The struggle against the towns. The monarchs' triumph -- 3. The state as an instrument: 1648 to 1789. Building the bureaucracy. Creating the infrastructure. Monopolizing violence. The growth of political theory. Inside the Leviathan -- 4. The state as an ideal: 1789 to 1945. The Great Transformation. Disciplining the people. Conquering money. The road to total war. The apotheosis of the state -- 5. The spread of the state: 1696 to 1975. Toward Eastern Europe. The Anglo-Saxon experience. The Latin American experiment. Frustration in Asia and Africa. What everybody has ... -- 6. The decline of the state: 1975-. The waning of major war. The retreat of welfare |
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Technology goes international. The threat to internal order. The withdrawal of faith -- Conclusions: beyond the state |
| Summary |
The state, which since the middle of the seventeenth century has been the most important and most characteristic of all modern institutions, is in decline. From Western Europe to Africa, many existing states are either combining into larger communities or falling apart. Many of their functions are being taken over by a variety of organizations which, whatever their precise nature, are not states. In this unique volume Martin van Creveld traces the story of the state from its beginnings to the present. Starting with the simplest political organizations that ever existed, he guides the reader through the origins of the state, its development, its apotheosis during the two World Wars, and its spread from its original home in Western Europe to cover the globe. In doing so, he provides a fascinating history of government from its origins to the present day |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
State, The.
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World politics.
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| LC no. |
98030993 |
| ISBN |
0521651905 (cased) |
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052165629X (paperback) |
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052165629X (paperback) |
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