Chapter 1: Introduction
comparing states
● states
○ organisations that maintain a monopoly of violence over a territory
○ distinguish between government; the leadership or elite that administer the
state
● legitimacy: extent to which its authority is regarded as right and proper
○ traditional legitimacy: state is obeyed because it has a long tradition of being
obeyed.
○ charismatic legitimacy: its identification with the magnetic appeal of a leader
or movement
○ legal legitimacy: a system of laws and procedures that become highly
institutionalized.
● strong states: can perform the task of defending themselves from outside, and
inside attacks from non state rivals.
● weak states: have trouble performing these tasks
○ when overwhelmed by anarchy and violence it is a failed state
● unitary vs federal state ; potential devolution (handing power to the
local)
comparing regimes
● political regimes
○ the norms and rules regarding individual freedoms and collective equality,
locus of power, and the use of power. e.g. the rules of governing the exercise of
power
comparing democratic political institutions
● head of state: symbolizes and represents the people on all fronts
● head of government: deals with everyday tasks of running the state
○ can be either separate or combined in one function
● parliamentary system
○ head of government usually elected from within the legislature
○ PM is the leader of the largest party in the legislature
○ head of state has ceremonial duties; indirectly elected president, or a
hereditary monarch
● presidential system
○ hos = hog
○ directly elected legislature as check on presidential authority
● semi-presidential system
○ prime minister approved by legislation
○ directly elected president
,comparing non democratic regimes
● personal dictatorship
○ based on the power of a single strong leader who relies on charismatic or
traditional authority to maintain power
● military regime
○ the military dominates politics
● one-party regime
○ politics dominated by a strong political party that relies upon a broad
membership as a source of political control
● co-optation
○ corporatism: citizen participation is channeled into state-sanctioned groups
○ clientelism: state provides benefits to numeral political supporters
comparing societies
● political culture
○ the patterns of basic norms relating to politics
● political attitude
○ views regarding the status quo in a society
○ radical, conservative, liberal, reactionary attitudes
, Article: Nationalism and Ethnicity
C. Calhoun
● nationalism and ethnicity not vanishing from traditional order
(conclusion)
modernity of nationalism
● By 1815 nationalism was present across the world, although differences
existed, it was enough to be considered the most momentous
phenomenon of modern history
○ early modern time: idea of nationalism as an aggregate of co-residence, or
common sociocultural characteristics
○ lead to modern invocation as nationalism as source of legitimacy, ethnic
boundaries should not cut across political ones
○ humanity is naturally divided into nations and thus nations should be
governed by the nations itself.
nationalism as discourse
● does the prior existence of ethnicity explain nationhood, and does
nationhood explain nationalism?
○ or does the notion of membership in an ethnic group derive from
nationalist/ethnic mobilization?
○ world system is organised into states, which thematizes certain cultural
differences as constituting cultures, while other are unimportant or
suppressed
○ This makes nationalism and claims to ethnicity as problematic as they are
imperative.
● claims to a definition of a nation are difficult because while legitimizing
one, it deligitimatizes the other at the other.
○ Claims to nationhood are not just internal claims to social solidarity, common
descent, or any other basis for constituting a political community. They are
also claims to distinctiveness vis-a-vis other nations, claims to at least some
level of autonomy and self-sufficiency, and claims to certain rights within a
world-system of state
centrality of states
● distinctive character of the modern state according to Tilly
○ consolidation of centralized administrative power
○ development of capacities to mobilize civilian populations, for interstate
warfare
● nation-state vs national state
○ nation state: "whose people share a strong linguistic, religious, or symbolic
identity.
comparing states
● states
○ organisations that maintain a monopoly of violence over a territory
○ distinguish between government; the leadership or elite that administer the
state
● legitimacy: extent to which its authority is regarded as right and proper
○ traditional legitimacy: state is obeyed because it has a long tradition of being
obeyed.
○ charismatic legitimacy: its identification with the magnetic appeal of a leader
or movement
○ legal legitimacy: a system of laws and procedures that become highly
institutionalized.
● strong states: can perform the task of defending themselves from outside, and
inside attacks from non state rivals.
● weak states: have trouble performing these tasks
○ when overwhelmed by anarchy and violence it is a failed state
● unitary vs federal state ; potential devolution (handing power to the
local)
comparing regimes
● political regimes
○ the norms and rules regarding individual freedoms and collective equality,
locus of power, and the use of power. e.g. the rules of governing the exercise of
power
comparing democratic political institutions
● head of state: symbolizes and represents the people on all fronts
● head of government: deals with everyday tasks of running the state
○ can be either separate or combined in one function
● parliamentary system
○ head of government usually elected from within the legislature
○ PM is the leader of the largest party in the legislature
○ head of state has ceremonial duties; indirectly elected president, or a
hereditary monarch
● presidential system
○ hos = hog
○ directly elected legislature as check on presidential authority
● semi-presidential system
○ prime minister approved by legislation
○ directly elected president
,comparing non democratic regimes
● personal dictatorship
○ based on the power of a single strong leader who relies on charismatic or
traditional authority to maintain power
● military regime
○ the military dominates politics
● one-party regime
○ politics dominated by a strong political party that relies upon a broad
membership as a source of political control
● co-optation
○ corporatism: citizen participation is channeled into state-sanctioned groups
○ clientelism: state provides benefits to numeral political supporters
comparing societies
● political culture
○ the patterns of basic norms relating to politics
● political attitude
○ views regarding the status quo in a society
○ radical, conservative, liberal, reactionary attitudes
, Article: Nationalism and Ethnicity
C. Calhoun
● nationalism and ethnicity not vanishing from traditional order
(conclusion)
modernity of nationalism
● By 1815 nationalism was present across the world, although differences
existed, it was enough to be considered the most momentous
phenomenon of modern history
○ early modern time: idea of nationalism as an aggregate of co-residence, or
common sociocultural characteristics
○ lead to modern invocation as nationalism as source of legitimacy, ethnic
boundaries should not cut across political ones
○ humanity is naturally divided into nations and thus nations should be
governed by the nations itself.
nationalism as discourse
● does the prior existence of ethnicity explain nationhood, and does
nationhood explain nationalism?
○ or does the notion of membership in an ethnic group derive from
nationalist/ethnic mobilization?
○ world system is organised into states, which thematizes certain cultural
differences as constituting cultures, while other are unimportant or
suppressed
○ This makes nationalism and claims to ethnicity as problematic as they are
imperative.
● claims to a definition of a nation are difficult because while legitimizing
one, it deligitimatizes the other at the other.
○ Claims to nationhood are not just internal claims to social solidarity, common
descent, or any other basis for constituting a political community. They are
also claims to distinctiveness vis-a-vis other nations, claims to at least some
level of autonomy and self-sufficiency, and claims to certain rights within a
world-system of state
centrality of states
● distinctive character of the modern state according to Tilly
○ consolidation of centralized administrative power
○ development of capacities to mobilize civilian populations, for interstate
warfare
● nation-state vs national state
○ nation state: "whose people share a strong linguistic, religious, or symbolic
identity.
