State domination in the non-Western world is hallmarked by its constantly shifting character. This stimulating book develops a new approach to the study of state formation and state erosion to explain dynamics that neither follow the pathways of development nor the rule of stagnation that dependency theory once suggested. Carefully edited by Klaus Schlichte, this book provides a fresh angle to the study of states with an attempt to 'overcome Weber with Weber'. The approach focuses on the historical authenticity of states and their institutional frameworks, describing the trajectories taken as they react to the effects of changes in their international and local social environments. The emphasis laid on the specific characteristics of individual states does not however lead to the theoretical difficulty of a new contextual relativism. The conceptual design employs sociological categories developed by Max Weber, Norbert Elias, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu and others.

For centuries Europeans ruled vast portions of the world, as inhabitants of west European countries sailed to distant continents and took possession of territories whose societies and economies they set out to change. How and why did these farflung empires form, persist, and finally fall? David Abernethy addresses these questions in this magisterial survey of the rise and decline of European overseas empires. Abernethy identifies broad patterns across time and space, interweaving them with fascinating details of cross-cultural encounters. He argues that relatively autonomous profit-making, religious, and governmental institutions enabled west European countries to launch triple assaults on other societies. Indigenous people also played a role in their eventual subjugation by inviting Europeans to intervene in their power struggles. Abernethy finds that imperial decline was often the unanticipated result of wars among major powers. Postwar crises over colonies' unmet expectations empowered movements that eventually took territories as diverse as the thirteen British North American colonies, Spain's South American possessions, India, the Dutch East Indies, Vietnam, and the Gold Coast to independence. In advancing a theory of imperialism that includes European and non-European actors, and in analyzing economic, social, and cultural as well as political dimensions of empire, Abernethy helps account for Europe's long occupation of global center stage. He also sheds light on key features of today's postcolonial world and the legacies of empire, concluding with an insightful approach to the moral evaluation of colonialism.

This puts additional pressure on the state to make concessions. Mexico's modern history thus can be seen as a series of such crises, each resulting in a new "pact of domination" and a period of relative social peace.

Apartheid Raciald̈iscrimination Discrimination Racer̈elations Politics SouthÄfrica.

Negotiating Statehood: Dynamics of Power and Domination in Africa provides a conceptual framework for analysing dynamic processes of state-making in Africa. Features a conceptual framework which provides a method for analysing the everyday making, contestation, and negotiation of statehood in contemporary Africa Conceptualizes who negotiates statehood (the actors, resources and repertoires), where these negotiation processes take place, and what these processes are all about ncludes a collections of essays that provides empirical and analytical insights into these processes in eight different country studies in Africa Critically reflects on the negotiability of statehood in Africa