De-centering state making: comparative and international perspectives

State making has long been regarded as a European development, both historically and geographically. In this innovative book, the authors add fresh insights into the nature and causes of state making by de-centering this Eurocentric viewpoint through simultaneous changes of conceptual, theoretical and empirical focus. De-Centering State Making combines knowledge from comparative politics and international relations, creating a more holistic perspective that moves away from the widespread idea that state making and war are intrinsically linked. The book uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine historical and contemporary cases of state making as well as non-European ones, providing an in-depth analysis of the nature and causes of state making, historically as well as in a modern, global environment. This timely book is an invaluable read for international relations and comparative politics scholars. It will also greatly benefit those teaching advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on state making as it provides a fresh take on the art of state making in a modern world.

Includes index.

1. Introduction: De-centering state making / Jens Bartelson, Martin Hall and Jan Teorell -- Part I: What makes a state? -- 2. Steppe State Making / Martin Hall -- 3. De-centering federal origins: India and the contested appropriation of federal democracy / Ted Svensson -- 4. The current developing state / Jonathan K. Hanson -- Part II: What states does war make? -- 5. When does war make states?: war, rivalries and fiscal extraction in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries / Agustín Goenaga and Alexander von Hagen-Jamar -- 6. War and variation in the structure of historical international systems: a theoretical model / Charles Butcher and Ryan Griffiths -- 7. Imagined states and clashing statebuilding processes in the Bosnian space / Annika Björkdahl -- Part III: State making and international society -- 8. Configurations of semi-sovereignty in the long-Nineteenth century / Arthur Learoyd -- 9. Acting like a state: non-European membership of international organisations in the Nineteenth century / Ellen Ravndal -- Part IV: Conclusion -- 10. Concentric circles: aporias of de-centering state making in time and space / Janis Grzybowski -- 11. After de-centering: a new research agenda f…