Nation, State & Civil Society
The nation-state comprises what has become a near-universal form of community and political organization in the modern world. Taking nationality and state-building as contested historical processes, the courses in this thematic area focus upon the emergence of modern states and their characteristic forms of political and public culture. It also examines alternatives to the modern nation-state through the lens of pre-modern, post-modern, and/or non-modern communities and political forms. Suggested topics include: war and society, democratic revolutions, the public sphere and civil society, nationalism and national identity, popular movements, variations on monarchy, urban structures, and post-colonial projects of nation-building and economic development.