Home

The book "Evolution and Properties of States"

In May 2011 I published a book which in Swedish has the title "Statsvetenskap". It is intended as a textbook for political science students at universities, but is also written for a broader public. It has so far been well received, and those familiar with the Swedish language may see some reviews here. I have now also made a preliminary translation of the book into English which is available below. It has the provisional title "Evolution and Properties of States" and is, I think, fairly close to the the final version of the eventual printed book. I have however excluded some elements such as preface, footnotes and references.

The preliminary translation has been commented on by the scholars below for which the links lead to the complete comments:

James N. Druckman, Northwestern University: ... It is a must read.

Mark N. Franklin, European University Institute: ... a modern day "The Prince".

Donald L. Horowitz, Duke University: ... brings us back to fundamentals.

Otmar Höll, Österreichisches Institut für Internationale Politik: ... advances our understanding of statehood in the ... 21st century.

Jonah Levy, University of California, Berkeley: ... Informative and clearly written ...

 

THE CHAPTERS HTML-file PDF-file Number of pages in the PDF-file
1. The state as an institution, and as an object of study Chapter 1 Chapter 1 8
2. States during 5000 years Chapter 2 Chapter 2 50
3. Basic theory Chapter 3 Chapter 3 31
4. Development and significance of the technique of violence Chapter 4 Chapter 4 15
5. Politics and economy Chapter 5 Chapter 5 28
6. Dictatorships Chapter 6 Chapter 6 60
7. Direct democracies Chapter 7 Chapter 7 12
8. Oligarchies Chapter 8 Chapter 8 20
9. The birth and spread of the representative democracy Chapter 9 Chapter 9 25
10. The properties of the representative democracy Chapter 10 Chapter 10 53
11. Statelessness Chapter 11 Chapter 11 14
12. The role of ideas Chapter 12 Chapter 12 9