Does War Make States?

Lars Bo Kaspersen trained as a sociologist and is now a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen, where he teaches history, politics and sociology. His research interests are in the transformation of the welfare state, the sociology of war and civil society. His most recent book is Denmark in the World (2013). Jeppe Strandsbjerg trained as a political scientist and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Business and Politics at Copenhagen Business School. His research interests are in arctic geopolitics and the spatiality of the sovereign territorial state. He has published articles in several journals, including Geopolitics and the Journal of Power.

• Introduction: state formation theory: status, problems, and prospects Lars Bo Kaspersen, Jeppe Strandsbjerg and Benno Teschke; Part I. Lineages: 1. After the 'Tilly-thesis': social conflict, differential state formation and geopolitics in the construction of the European system of states Benno Teschke; 2. Otto Hintze, Stein Rokkan and Charles Tilly's theory of European state-building Thomas Ertman; Part II. Challenges: 3. War and state formation: amending the Bellicist theory of state-making Hendrik Spruyt; 4. Beyond the Tilly thesis: 'family values' and state formation in Latin Christendom Philip Gorski and Vivek Sharma; Part III. Omissions: 5. The space of state formation Jeppe Strandsbjerg; 6. The realm as a European form of rule: unpacking the warfare thesis through the Holy Roman Empire Peter Haldén; 7. War, conflict and the state reconsidered Vivek Sharma; Part IV. Vistas: 8. War and state in the Middle East: reassessing Charles Tilly in a regional context Dietrich Jung; 9. Beyond mere war: authority and legitimacy in the formation of the Latin American states Robert H. Holden; 10. How Tilly's state formation paradigm is revolutionising the study of Chinese state-making Victoria Hui.

'This is an outstanding scholarly contribution - an important work well written and exhaustively researched … it is a new take on historical sociology in general and the important questions that have defined it for the past thirty years.' Miguel A. Centeno, Princeton University, New Jersey