Reading- Politics in the Modern State

Here we go!!

1. Varieties of Political Organization: Cross Cultural Comparisons

1.1. Lorna Marshall, "!Kung Bushman Bands,"

1.2. Marshall Sahlins, "Poor Man, Rich Man, Big-Man, Chief: Political Types in Melanesia and Polynesia,"

1.3. Donald V. Kurtz, "Strategies of Legitimation and the Aztec State,"

1.4. Shively, Power and Choice, Chapter 10.

• Although politics is found in all human communities, it can take many different forms.
• These articles point out some of the diversity of political organization found in different preindustrial societies ranging from hunting and gathering bands to complex states.
• They also suggest important variation in political leadership styles and the organization of authority.
• In addition to identifying this variation, consider why it occurs and what its consequences are. PS 101- 5
  

2. The Rise of the European State: The Case of France

2.1. Shively, Power and Choice, Chapter 3.

2.2. Clifford Geertz "The Integrative Revolution: Primordial Sentiments and Civil Politics in the New States," (article)

3.3. Eugen Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914. Selections. (article)

• The nation-state is the quintessential form of modern political organization.
• It is clear that the nation-state is an organizational form, but it also can be the object of great emotional attachment. Geertz, an anthropologist, explores this loyalty in a classic article about the nations of Asia and Africa.
• Weber's study of France is instructive and important in raising important questions about the relationship between national identity and state formation.
• His detailed historical analysis suggests that the formation of the state preceded the development of a sense of "Frenchness," that the state power of the state was used to change identities among many rural people living in France, and that this could only occur with the technological changes in the later part of the 19th century.

It should suggest important questions about the nature of states today.

3. Decision Making and State Institutions: What Do States Do?

3.1. Shively, Power and Choice, Chapters 4-7.

• Modern states make and implement policies. But what exactly does this mean.
• Think about various areas of our lives and consider how they are affected by state action.
• How do different concerns compete for attention of the state?
• Shively raises the question of how we are to evaluate state action as governments make policy.
• What is your reaction to his criteria of efficiency and fairness?
• How do they sometimes complete?

Finally, how are we to think about the relationship between the state and its citizens?

3.2. Shively, Power and Choice, Chapters 14-17.

• Democratic nation states are organized in many different ways.
• The most striking contrast is between presidential and parliamentary systems.
• Make sure you understand not just what the key differences are between the two, but what difference they make.
• In other words, how might it matter if the US was a parliamentary, and not a presidential, democracy?

What is the role of the bureaucracy and the rule of law in each? Consider the contrasting examples Shively presents.

4. The Politics of Equality and Group Differences

4.1. Douglas Rae, Equalities. (on reserve)

4.2. Lani Guinier, "Groups, Representation, and Race Conscious Districting: A Case of the Emperor's Clothes,"

4.3. William G. Bowen and Neil L. Rudenstine, "Race Sensitive Admissions: Back to Basics,"

• There is social and cultural diversity in all modern nation states.
• What are its political consequences?
• These readings focus on different ways to think about the concept of equality and ask you to apply them to questions of ethnic and racial differences.
• To what extent are these differences the greatest source of political tension in modern states?
• To what extent can structural formulas protect minorities and ensure them full citizenship? Rae points out different meanings of equality.
• Make sure you understand the distinctions he makes between group and individual equality in particular.
• Guinier points out why majoritarian democratic procedures may PS 101- 6 not meet the needs of many majorities.
• In what ways are her arguments similar to Mansbridge's?
• Bowen and Rudinstine examine the theory and some data behind affirmative action in college admissions.