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Foundations in change: the material preconditions of the state

Wilhelmsson, Vincent LU (2019) STVK02 20182
Department of Political Science
Abstract
The classic division of state formation literature often discuss the state in concepts of capital and coercion, stressing the dimension of coercion in true Weberian spirit. This essay however finds a different path and a somewhat alternative way of thinking about states. Through applying the hierarchy of needs in analyzing the period of 1100-1790, this essay defines a certain number of ‘material preconditions of the state’, meaning physical resources needed for a state to be able to come into being. The resources discussed, temperature, water, arable land, and food (energy) are then discussed in matters of climate change, and what effects climate change could have on them. I then outline social-ecological impacts of these resources, and... (More)
The classic division of state formation literature often discuss the state in concepts of capital and coercion, stressing the dimension of coercion in true Weberian spirit. This essay however finds a different path and a somewhat alternative way of thinking about states. Through applying the hierarchy of needs in analyzing the period of 1100-1790, this essay defines a certain number of ‘material preconditions of the state’, meaning physical resources needed for a state to be able to come into being. The resources discussed, temperature, water, arable land, and food (energy) are then discussed in matters of climate change, and what effects climate change could have on them. I then outline social-ecological impacts of these resources, and how climate change may cause trouble for a state’s foundation. I draw the conclusions that the coercion dimension of state literature is utterly dependent on the capital dimension, and that if imbalance or sudden change occurs in these material conditions, it can have terrible effects on society. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Wilhelmsson, Vincent LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK02 20182
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Materialism, State-building, Climate change, Conceptual research, Hierarchy of needs
language
English
id
8965091
date added to LUP
2019-03-21 10:07:15
date last changed
2019-03-21 10:07:15
@misc{8965091,
  abstract     = {{The classic division of state formation literature often discuss the state in concepts of capital and coercion, stressing the dimension of coercion in true Weberian spirit. This essay however finds a different path and a somewhat alternative way of thinking about states. Through applying the hierarchy of needs in analyzing the period of 1100-1790, this essay defines a certain number of ‘material preconditions of the state’, meaning physical resources needed for a state to be able to come into being. The resources discussed, temperature, water, arable land, and food (energy) are then discussed in matters of climate change, and what effects climate change could have on them. I then outline social-ecological impacts of these resources, and how climate change may cause trouble for a state’s foundation. I draw the conclusions that the coercion dimension of state literature is utterly dependent on the capital dimension, and that if imbalance or sudden change occurs in these material conditions, it can have terrible effects on society.}},
  author       = {{Wilhelmsson, Vincent}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Foundations in change: the material preconditions of the state}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}