Crisis of the State

War and Social Upheaval
1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-0-85745-653-3
Verlag: Berghahn Books

Buch, Englisch, 338 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 494 g

Analyzing both historical contexts and geographical locations, this volume explores the continuous reformation of state power and its potential in situations of violent conflict. The state, otherwise understood as an abstract and transcendent concept in many works on globalization in political philosophy, is instead located and analyzed here as an embedded part of lived reality. This relationship to the state is exposed as an integral factor to the formation of the social – whether in Africa, the Middle East, South America or the United States. Through the examination of these particular empirical settings of war or war-like situations, the book further argues for the continued importance of the state in shifting social and political circumstances. In doing so, the authors provide a critical contribution to debates within a broad spectrum of fields that are concerned with the future of the state, the nature of sovereignty, and globalization.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kapferer, Bruce

Bertelsen, Bjørn Enge

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Friedens- und Konfliktforschung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Konflikt- und Friedensforschung, Rüstungskontrolle, Abrüstung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Gewalt Terrorismus, Religiöser Fundamentalismus
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Gewalt Revolutionäre Gruppen und Bewegungen, Bewaffnete Konflikte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Introduction: The Crisis of Power and Reformations of the State in Globalizing Realities

Bruce Kapferer and Bjørn Enge Bertelsen

SECTION I: TRANSFORMATIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY, EMPIRE, STATE

Chapter 1. The Military Industrial Complex and the U.S. Empire

June Nash

Chapter 2. Post-Soviet Formation of the Russian State and the War in Chechnya. Chaotic Form of Sovereignty

Jakob Rigi

Chapter 3. Market Forces, Political Violence and War. The End of Nation-states, the Rise of Ethnic and Global Sovereignties?

Caroline Ifeka

SECTION II: WAR ZONE

Chapter 4. Rebel Ravages in Bundibugyo, Uganda’s Forgotten District

Kirsten Alnaes

Chapter 5. The Fear of the Midnight Knock. State Sovereignty and Internal Enemies in Uganda

Sverker Finnström

Chapter 6. Scales of Confrontations, or the Pastoral Staff

Frode Storaas

SECTION III: SOVEREIGN LOGICS

Chapter 7. The Sovereign as Savage. The Pathos of Ethno-nationalist Passion

Christopher Taylor

Chapter 8. The Paramilitary Function of Transparency in Latin America and Beyond

Staffan Löfving

Chapter 9. Sorcery and Death Squads. Transformations of State, Sovereignty and Violence in Postcolonial Mozambique

Bjørn Enge Bertelsen

Chapter 10. Collective Violence and Counter State-building. Algeria 1954-1962

Rasmus Boserup

Chapter 11. Malignant Organisms. Continuities of State-run Violence in Rural Liberia

Mats Utas

Chapter 12. Israel’s Wall and the Logic of Encystation. Sovereign Exception or Wild Sovereignty?

Glenn Bowman

Notes on contributors

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Bertelsen, Bjørn Enge
Bjørn Enge Bertelsen is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Bergen University. His fieldwork focuses on Mozambique, on violence, war, history, sovereignty and the postcolonial state. His publications include "'It Will Rain until We Are in Power’: Floods, Elections and Memory in Mozambique" in Rights and the Politics of Recognition in Africa (Zed Books).

Kapferer, Bruce
Bruce Kapferer is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bergen. He has held academic positions in Zambia, Manchester, Adelaide, London and Queensland and carried out extensive fieldwork in Zambia, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and South Africa. His major publications include The Feast of the Sorcerer (University of Chicago Press) and Legends of People, Myths of State (Smithsonian Institution Press).

Bruce Kapferer is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bergen. He has held academic positions in Zambia, Manchester, Adelaide, London and Queensland and carried out extensive fieldwork in Zambia, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and South Africa. His major publications include The Feast of the Sorcerer (University of Chicago Press) and Legends of People, Myths of State (Smithsonian Institution Press).