The Global Diffusion of Work-Injury Insurance: The Role of Spatial Networks and Nation Building

Work-injury law often marks the beginning of the modern welfare state and as we argue this type of insurance is particularly important to nation-state building: it placates myriad social groups needs and demands while binding them symbiotically with the state. We analyze any first laws and the first instance of social insurance as outcomes in 151 states (1880–2010). Our network diffusion and event history models reveal that spatial proximity and democratization are key predictors of first laws. However, nation-state formation and trade density are additional predictors of social insurance in particular. We conclude with implications of these findings for understanding nation-building within global networks.

Conclusion

The conclusion draws on the analysis in previous chapters to address some theoretical questions about nation-state formation and communal diversity. What was the role of religion in the formation of individual and collective identity, and to what extent was loyalty to one’s faith also a function of the institutional framework that supported it? To what extent did the institutional framework for administering the Muslim population of Greece—which became a template in other Eastern Orthodox Balkan states—succeeded in protecting the Muslims’ cultural uniqueness from assimilation? How did this framework frame Muslim relations with the Greek state, ethnic Greeks, and other ethnic and religious groups in the country? Given that it has been often suggested that aspects of sharia be adopted by European states with Muslim migrants in order to secure fair and equal treatment for them by the states, what lessons can we draw from the Greek case?

The Global Diffusion of Work-Injury Insurance: The Role of Spatial Networks and Nation Building

Work-injury law often marks the beginning of the modern welfare state. We argue that work-injury insurance is particularly important to nation state building: it placates myriad social groups’ while binding them symbiotically with the state. We analyze any first laws and first social insurance as outcomes in 150 states (1880-2010). Our network diffusion and event history models reveal that spatial proximity and democratization are key predictors of first laws. However, nation state formation and trade density are additional predictors of social insurance. We conclude with these findings’ implications for understanding nation building within global networks.

Beyond the Nation? Or Back to It? Current Trends in the Sociology of Nations and Nationalism

This article critically reviews three of the most significant debates in the sociology of nations and nationalism over the past 50 years: (1) the problem of methodological nationalism on the main features of nation-states; (2) the tension between primordialism and modernism in understanding the historicity of nations; and (3) the politics of nationalism between universalism and particularism. These three debates help us clarify some key theses in our long-term understanding of nations and nationalism: processes of nation and nation-state formation are not opposed to but compatible with the rise of globalisation and non-state forms of governance; the question ‘when is a nation?’ combines modern and pre-modern dimensions; the politics of nationalism is neither unfailingly democratic nor exclusively regressive. A key paradox that unfolds is that all nations invest heavily in the production and reproduction of their own exceptionalism.