Crisis of the State: War and Social Upheaval

Published by Berghahn Books 2009

Crisis of the State

War and Social Upheaval

Edited by: Bruce Kapferer and Bjørn Enge Bertelsen

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781845459093

Overview
Contents

About this book

Analyzing both historical contexts and geographical locations, this volume explores the continuous reformation of state power and its potential in situations of violent conflict. The state, otherwise understood as an abstract and transcendent concept in many works on globalization in political philosophy, is instead located and analyzed here as an embedded part of lived reality. This relationship to the state is exposed as an integral factor to the formation of the social – whether in Africa, the Middle East, South America or the United States. Through the examination of these particular empirical settings of war or war-like situations, the book further argues for the continued importance of the state in shifting social and political circumstances. In doing so, the authors provide a critical contribution to debates within a broad spectrum of fields that are concerned with the future of the state, the nature of sovereignty, and globalization.

Author / Editor information

Bruce Kapferer is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bergen. He has held academic positions in Zambia, Manchester, Adelaide, London and Queensland and carried out extensive fieldwork in Zambia, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and South Africa. His major publications include The Feast of the Sorcerer (University of Chicago Press) and Legends of People, Myths of State (Smithsonian Institution Press).

Bjørn Enge Bertelsen is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Bergen University. His fieldwork focuses on Mozambique, on violence, war, history, sovereignty and the postcolonial state. His publications include "'It Will Rain until We Are in Power’: Floods, Elections and Memory in Mozambique" in Rights and the Politics of Recognition in Africa (Zed Books).

Bruce Kapferer is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bergen. He has held academic positions in Zambia, Manchester, Adelaide, London and Queensland and carried out extensive fieldwork in Zambia, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and South Africa. His major publications include The Feast of the Sorcerer (University of Chicago Press) and Legends of People, Myths of State (Smithsonian Institution Press).

Reviews

“The variety of the essays and empirical cases demonstrate clearly the necessity of careful analysis of local situations and provide strong arguments for avoiding the overemphasis of singular explanations, such as those based on human rights…Because of its theoretical sophistication as well as empirical force the volume deserves a careful reading.” · Helsinki Review of Global Governance

“…this volume…provides rich theoretical and empirical inputs for discussions of some of the most important current issues concerning the state, globalization, and the use of violence.” · Anthropos

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
TABLES AND FIGURES Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
Introduction THE CRISIS OF POWER AND REFORMATIONS OF THE STATE IN GLOBALIZING REALITIES Bruce Kapferer and Bjørn Enge Bertelsen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Section I TRANSFORMATIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY, EMPIRE, STATE
Chapter One THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX AND THE CRISIS OF U.S. CAPITAL June Nash Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
Chapter Two POST-SOVIET FORMATION OF THE RUSSIAN STATE AND THE WAR IN CHECHNYA Exploring the Chaotic Form of Sovereignty Jakob Rigi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
Chapter Three MARKET FORCES, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, AND WAR The End of Nation-States, the Rise of Ethnic and Global Sovereignties? Caroline Ifeka Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Chapter Four REBEL RAVAGES IN BUNDIBUGYO, UGANDA’S FORGOTTEN DISTRICT Kirsten Alnaes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Chapter Five FEAR OF THE MIDNIGHT KNOCK State Sovereignty and Internal Enemies in Uganda Sverker Finnström Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
Chapter Six THE SHEPHERD’S STAFF AND THE AK-47 Pastoralism and Handguns in Karamoja, Uganda Frode Storaas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
Section III SOVEREIGN LOGICS
Chapter Seven THE SOVEREIGN AS SAVAGE The Pathos of Ethno-Nationalist Passion Christopher Taylor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
Chapter Eight THE PARAMILITARY FUNCTION OF TRANSPARENCY Guatemala and Colombia Staffan Löfving Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Chapter Nine SORCERY AND DEATH SQUADS Transformations of State, Sovereignty, and Violence in Postcolonial Mozambique Bjørn Enge Bertelsen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	210
Chapter Ten COLLECTIVE VIOLENCE AND COUNTER-STATE BUILDING Algeria 1954–62 Rasmus Alenius Boserup Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Chapter Eleven MALIGNANT ORGANISMS Continuities of State-Run Violence in Rural Liberia Mats Utas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
Chapter Twelve ISRAEL’S WALL AND THE LOGIC OF ENCYSTATION Sovereign Exception or Wild Sovereignty? Glenn Bowman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	292
CONTRIBUTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	305
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 338
Keywords: Anthropology (General); Political and Economic Anthropology

eBook

Published: April 1, 2009
ISBN: 9781845459093