The Modern Development of States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the modern development of states and how it is significantly different than has been the case in the past. The paper specifically discusses the changes since the end of World War II, with particular reference to the increased stability of boundaries since that time. The paper describes examples through history to illustrate its point.

From the Paper:

"The idea that state building is a new and demonstratively different situation, in the modern world, is supported by the "state-in society" definition of the state, in both its democratic and non-democratic forms. Looking at the state as a situation in context of both ideal and practice is essential to understanding, even from a western democratic ideal why some states succeed in what Western thinkers see as ideal (i.e. democratic society) and what others consider ideal is essential to understanding modern states and modern state building. Migdal has offered the social sciences a far more effective, if not confusing template for the development of a state and why so many do not conform to democratic ideals at the onset of relative freedom, even in the face of secure and recognized stable borders."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Allnutt, Luke, and Alex Znatkevich. 2002. Belarus Plays Catch-Up. Foreign Policy, January/February, 98.
• Campbell, James E., and Thomas E. Mann. 1996. Forecasting the Presidential Election: What Can We Learn from Them Models?. Brookings Review, Fall, 26.
• Gibson, Susan S. 1998. The Misplaced Reliance on Free and Fair Elections in Nation Building: The Role of Constitutional Democracy and the Rule of Law. Houston Journal of International Law 21, no. 1: 1.
• Migdal, Joel S. 2001. State in Society: Studying How States and Societies Transform and Constitute One Another. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
• Migdal, Joel S. 2004. State Building and the Non-Nation-State. Journal of International Affairs 58, no. 1: 17.

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