1st Edition

New Critical Writings in Political Sociology Volume Three: Globalization and Contemporary Challenges to the Nation-State

Edited By Anna Marie Smith, Alan Scott Copyright 2009

    In the third and final volume of this series, we examine the implications of the accelerating globalization process for the nation-state. Are globalization, the rise of regional and international institutions, and the international agreements on human rights actually reducing and transforming state sovereignty? Clearly ethnic, racial, and religious identities remain salient, but how do they correspond to, intersect with, and overflow continuous nation-state spaces that are demarcated by legally recognized borders? In what conditions do democratic state-building projects actually enhance political, civil, and social rights, and when do they tend to contribute to the consolidation of elite power? Should democratic forces put their faith in a cosmopolitan vision of global citizenship, especially when they tackle quintessentially international and transnational problems like peace, aboriginal rights, and the protection of the environment? In this volume's collection of contemporary political sociologists' key articles, we present work that explores the exposure of the nation-state and the post-World War II world system to global forces.

    Contents: Introduction; Part I Crisis of the Nation-State?: Has globalization ended the rise and rise of the nation-state?, Michael Mann; Another century of conflict? War and the international system in the 21st century, Paul Q. Hirst. Part II Diasporic Movements, National and Transnational Religious and Ethnic Conflicts: Ethnicity and power in Burundi and Rwanda: different paths to mass violence, Peter Uvin; Nationalism, ethnic conflict and rationality, Ashutosh Varshney. Part III International Organizations and the 'Development Industry': From resistance to renewal: the 3rd world social movements and the expansion of international institutions, Balakrishnan Rajagopal; America's Egypt: discourse of the development industry, Tim Mitchell. Part IV State-Building and Democratization: What democracy is...and is not, Philippe C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Carl; The end of the transition paradigm, Thomas Carothers; Illusions about consolidation, Guillermo O'Donnell. Part V Post-Communism: Nationalism and politics in Eastern Europe, Ernest Gellner; Rethinking recent democratization: lessons from the postcommunist experience, Valerie Bunce. Part VI Human Rights, Refugees, Immigrants, Migration: Outline of a theory of human rights, Bryan S. Turner; Towards a sociology of forced migration and social transformation, Stephen Castles; Embodied rights: gender persecution, state sovereignty and refugees, Jacqueline Bhabha. Part VII Regionalism, Multi-Level Governance and the EU: Regionalism old and new, Raimo Väyrynen; Still in deficit: rights, regulation and democracy in the EU, Richard Bellamy. Part VIII Cosmopolitans and their Critics: Unpacking cosmopolitanism for the social sciences: a research agenda, Ulrich Beck and Natan Sznaider; The class consciousness of frequent travelers: towards a critique of actually existing cosmopolitanism, Craig Calhoun; Name index.

    Biography

    Anna Marie Smith is Professor of Government at Cornell University, USA, Alan Scott is Professor of Sociology, University of Innsbruck, Austria and Kate Nash is Reader in Sociology, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK.