The autonomous power of the state: its origins, mechanisms and results

1984 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mann
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
State Power ◽  
The State ◽  
Major Power ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Agrarian Societies ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Industrial Societies ◽  
Unique Ability

This essay tries to specify the origins, mechanisms and results of the autonomous power which the state possesses in relation to the major power groupings of ‘civil society’. The argument is couched generally, but it derives from a large, ongoing empirical research project into the development of power in human societies. At the moment, my generalisations are bolder about agrarian societies; concerning industrial societies I will be more tentative. I define the state and then pursue the implications of that definition. I discuss two essential parts of the definition, centrality and territoriality, in relation to two types of state power, termed here despotic and infrastructural power. I argue that state autonomy, of both despotic and infrastructural forms, flows principally from the state's unique ability to provide a territorially-centralised form of organization.

Foucault and the state

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-164
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Sawyer
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
International Law ◽  
State Power ◽  
Global Civil Society ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Global Finance ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Global Capital ◽  
Popular Power

For those attentive to the epochal shifts of globalization, the state has been either serving global capital or on its way out for decades. Neo-liberalism prones new scales of economic and political organization and the promise of a global civil society while international law ostensibly undermines the traditional functions of state power. The inadequacy of the state has found an equally sharp echo among populists who have reaffirmed democracy at the expense of a robust state. And in an odd déjà-vu, social scientists are once again pushing elsewhere: the state would seem at once the all-powerful protagonist of global finance or entirely insufficient for integrating popular power in our contemporary democracies.

Accademie agrarie italiane del XVIII secolo. Profili storici dimensione sociale (seconda parte)

2009 ◽  
pp. 445-463
Author(s):  
Michele Simonetto
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
The State ◽  
The Self ◽  
Scientific Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Self Organisation ◽  
Agrarian Societies

- The author wishes to highlight the lay-out of agrarian academies in Italy, the social and cultural outlines of academic members, the academies as institutions, the connection between the agrarian societies and the state as well as new eighteenth's century scientific culture and tradition. The picture is very complex but the author outlines the revival of the old academical models, the difficulties to enlist qualified persons in the field of agronomy, the short weight of the scientific outlook, the subordination of the academies to the state as indication of the difficulties in the self-organisation of the civil society.

Beyond Contestation

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-246
Author(s):  
Holly Snape
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
The State ◽  
The Way

This paper draws on empirical research undertaken in mainland China spanning five years to examine the role of a quiet, incremental, and holistic approach adopted by grassroots ngos as they attempt to carve out greater governance and service provision roles for themselves and influence the state. In light of this approach, it also questions the way we conceptualize the autonomy of ngos and the search for contestation between ngos and the state which clouds our view of more subtle yet powerful interaction. It goes on to suggest that by adjusting the lens through which we interpret the transformation of the state-society relationship, we may be able to form a clearer understanding of the wave-like development of civil society in China as the space for social organizing expands and contracts on an upward trajectory.

UNTIMELY HESITATIONS

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 831-840 ◽  
Author(s):  
KNOX PEDEN
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political History ◽  
State Power ◽  
The State ◽  
Historical Inquiry ◽  
Young Hegelians

Intellectual historians owe Nietzsche a debt for many things, not least for lending the quality of “untimeliness” a positive connotation. In the late 1990s, when Marxism was arguably at its nadir as an intellectual program, much less a political one, Warren Breckman published an insightful study of Marx's early thought and its genesis out of a series of disputes with the Young Hegelians concerning the state and its ambiguous relationship with theological conceptions of authority. The untimeliness of Breckman's intervention had much to recommend it. Taking his distance from the pallbearers, Breckman showed that a historical inquiry into the Marxist enterprise increased rather than diminished its contemporary relevance. In the wake of the eastern bloc's collapse, “civil society” had become the order of the day. Breckman showed that, far from being an innocuous panacea to the terror of state power, the concept had its own contested political history, one that Marx grappled with in ways whose resonance has only grown in the decade since Breckman's first book appeared.

scholarly journals «Activism» as a specific form of civil society influence on the state power in modern Ukraine

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
A. K. Klyachin, Tit O.G.
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
State Power ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Authorities

The General characteristics of the concept of civil society, outlined its functions, the main features, institutions and forms of interaction with public authorities. The category «activism» is considered as a means of civil society to effectively implement and protect the interests of society. On the basis of the analysis of activity of public organizations the attempt of conditional allocation of varieties of «activism»is carried out. It is determined which form of «activism» has the most real ability to influence public authorities.

1 The Contemporary Middle East

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Castellino Joshua ◽  
Cavanaugh Kathleen A
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Middle East ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
Contested Terrain ◽  
Politics And Law ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
Industrial Societies

This chapter tackles some of the most contested terrain. The argument that the Middle East shares narratives both endogenously and exogenously is explored as we set out the historical, social, and territorial formation of the region, focussing on events that have helped shape and reshape this space externally and internally. The movement from pre-industrial to post-industrial societies, and the varying responses to these socio-economic transformations at sub-state, state, and regional levels, has necessitated the interplay between religion and politics, religion and rights and the interface between politics and law. These myriad forces have generated not just one but multiple narratives at the state and civil society level. This chapter examines how conflicts since 1945 have shaped this region with particular reference to the Arab-Israeli conflicts and the post 9-11 ‘war on terror’.

scholarly journals Securing Social Governability: Party-Movement Relationships in Lula's Brazil

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 567-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
HERNÁN F. GÓMEZ BRUERA
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
State Power ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Office ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
State Subsidies

AbstractThis article provides a new interpretation of the changes that occur in party-civil society relations when progressive parties of mass-based origin gain state power by looking at the experience of the Brazilian Workers’ Party (PT) during the Lula administration. The need to preserve what is defined here as ‘social governability’ changes the nature of party-movement relationships when political parties move from opposition to government. The article shows how the PT in national executive public office, to a large extent, managed to secure social governability through reward-based linkages, such as the distribution of jobs in the state apparatus and the allocation of massive state subsidies.

scholarly journals Methodological Issues in Studies of Cultural Legacies in Post-Socialist Russia’s Civil Society

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-165
Author(s):  
Anna Leskinen
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Cultural Legacies ◽  
The Individual

AbstractThe state of civil society in post-socialist Russia and other former socialist countries is of great interest to social scientists, policy makers, and development-oriented practitioners. Numerous theoretical assumptions and methodological approaches have been used by researchers to describe, analyze, and assess the state of civil society in Russia, for example. One of the key issues addressed has been the influences on citizens’ civic and social activities and the historical conditions and cultural environments that have generated – and continue to generate – these activities. This critique focuses on the concept of “communist legacies” which has been applied at the individual level to explain people’s preferences, attitudes, and forms of behavior in Russia and other post-socialist countries. The concept is influential, in large part, because it has been supported by empirical research, especially the highly influential empirical research of Marc Howard. This paper takes a critical look at this research, including its theoretical frame and the methodology associated with the frame.

Measurements for Tourist Space Development

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (0) ◽  
pp. 0-0 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leszek Butowski ◽  
Bogdan Włodarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
The State ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Space Tourism ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Town

Purpose. Disseminating knowledge on tourist space as a subject of study (ontological aspect) and methods for researching (describing and measuring) it, including paradigms and applied research approaches (epistemological aspect). Research hypothesis: the measure of tourism (tourist space) development is the achievement, within a given area, a state of long-term sustainability, defined as the situation in which the (widely understood) benefits outweigh (widely understood) costs of tourism development incurred by all (direct and indirect) groups of stakeholders. Method. The first part of the paper provides an overview. On the basis of the existing definitions and ways of understanding or delimiting tourist space, different measures (including measures of tourist space development) were distinguished and classified. In the second part of the paper, the results of a pilot research project investigating the state of sustainability of tourist space (tourism) in the town of Jastarnia were presented (case study). The research project was carried out using an innovative research method based on a model of sustainable tourism. This was a qualitative project and the obtained results have been quantified. Findings. The current state of tourism (tourist space) in Jastarnia was found to meet the criteria of sustainability, although certain sub-groups of respondents reported lack of sustainability in the component of costs. Research and conclusion limitations. The results of the empirical research reflect the current state (2015). The research project was carried out on a determined sample (it is not representative). Practical implications. The proposed method can be used for assessing the state of tourism at any destination. The obtained results can serve as a guide in the decision making process regarding the directions of tourism development. Originality. An innovative empirical research method has been applied. Type of paper. The first part of the paper provides an overview. The second part contains results of an empirical research project.

scholarly journals CIVIL SOCIETY IN UKRAINE: THORNY PATH OF CREATION

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-156
Author(s):  
Yevhen Tsokur
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
State Formation ◽  
National Level ◽  
The State ◽  
The Real ◽  
Public Control ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Optimum Model ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Ukrainian Society

Problem of the creation of civil society institutions is actual and requested. Ukrainian society is in a search state of optimum model of existence and communication with the state and power from the moment of independence acquisition. A few attempts of building of effective institutions of civil society in Ukraine failed. However the search continues. Own and world experience inspires the Ukrainian people on creation of own way to the real democracy cherished in dreams. Research of formation and development of civil society at the national level is not only extremely important, but also vital in the context of world legitimation processes. Essence of civil society is in structural opposition to power, public control over its activities. Civil society is the initiator of power delegitimation and it is also is an indicator of gaining legitimacy by the authorities. One of functions of civil society is to non-admit, and better prevent coming to power potentially illegitimate power institutes and establishment of the illegitimate regimes. Civil society can give birth on the «barricades» of fight against illegitimate power and to disappear after defeat in this fight, or to degrade under the pressure of external and internal contradictions. A task of civil society is not only society mobilization on a fight against the illegitimate regime but also consolidation of society with the aim of further effective state formation.

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