The Nation-State and Global Order: A Historical Introduction to Contemporary Politics

by Walter C. Opello, Stephen J. Rosow

Opello and Rosow (professors of political science at the State U. of New York at Oswego) take a historical-constructivist approach to understanding the modern state, describing how war has been central to the formation of the state, arguing that it advantaged political- military systems in which a monarch exercised hierarchical authority over a sizable demarcated territory. They examine the specific forms that these sovereign states have taken and the internal and external factors that have caused them to evolve through different forms of the state. They examine the exportation of the sovereign state outside of Europe and the way that helped constitute the current global order. Finally, they assess the challenge of globalization to the sovereign state. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Genres: Politics, History

280 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2004

Reviews

[Shokirjon Shokirov · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book describes history of the state and nation-state, its formation, different forms and current challenges that the territorial state faces.
I liked the insightful examples about imperial and feudal states before and nation-states, managerial states after the Westphalian order.
However, the book is a historical introduction which I found less informative for me because I expected more and detailed historical, theoretical and philosophical information about the state or nation-state. Despite the book cover, the book failed to discuss more about ideas of Thomas Hobbes, Immanuel Kant, Max Weber and other important philosophers (their ideas are rarely mentioned). The Westphalian order of IR, especially the period of XVII-XVIII centuries are not detailed and even other systems of IR as Vienna, Versailles-Washington and Yalta – Potsdam systems which had a significant impact on global order and nation-state are not considered in this book. However, this book is very good introduction to politics. Therefore, it is highly recommended for junior students of political science.