State and Statehood in the Global South: Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Studies

This book focuses on critical approaches to the state and state theory in the Global South. In light of the reemergence of the post-colonial and peripheral state as a crucial institution and actor in the 21st century’s capitalist world-system, the book examines the nature, functions and development dynamics of the state in the periphery, as well as its constituting interests and struggles. Drawing on the works of Poulantzas and Gramsci, dependency and world-systems theory, as well as the regulation school and the German Ableitungsdebatte, stategraphy and critical realism, it analyzes the development of different theoretical perspectives on the state, elaborates on their theoretical, ontological and epistemological presuppositions, and illustrates their methodological, practical and ethical implications. The book is divided into three parts, the first of which provides an overview of recent global capitalist developments and challenges for state theory andlays the theoretical, ontological and hermeneutic foundation for studies of the state and statehood in the Global South. In turn, the second part introduces readers to different schools of state theory, including critical theory and materialism, as well as approaches derived from postcolonial, anthropological, and feminist thought. Lastly, the third part presents various empirical studies, highlighting concrete methodological and practical experiences of conducting critical state theory.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: Introduction.- Critical State Theory In The Global South.- Part 2: Theoretical And Methodological Preliminaries.- Materialist Theory And The State In Peripheral/Post-Colonial Societies.- Stategraphy. A Social Anthropological Approach To The State.- Ethics Of Doing Critical Research On The State In The Global South.- Part 3: Materialist State Theoretical Analysis.- State Theoy Of The Semi-Periphery As State Theory Of Deficit. The Example Of Modern Turkey.- Materialist State Theory. An Example Of Analyzing The State At The Periphery.- Part 4: Analyzing The State With Critical Realist Perspectives.- Abe Shinzō’s Neoliberal Nationalism. A Discourse Of Transcendence.- Resource Frontiers And Indigenous Mobilization In Myanmar. A Critical Realist Approach To Empirical Research In The ‘Global South’ Rainer.- Part 5: Ethnographical And Postcolonial Approaches To State And Statehood.- Moral Appreciation. Caring For Post-Socialist Cows In Contemporary Serbia.- Latin America. The Refounding Of The State.- Ethnography Of The State In Plurinational Bolivia. Indigenous Knowledge, Clientelism And Decolonizing Bureaucracy.