COLL: CONSTRUCTING AND DECONSTRUCTING ST

The course examines the development of states and nations from both historical and comparative perspectives.  It asks why states replaced other forms of political organization (empires, feudalism, warlordism) and why national identities came to replace or dominate other types of identities (religious, ethnic, local) at some times and in some places, but not others.  It explicitly compares the processes of state and nation-building in the past and the contemporary period, drawing on cases from various parts of the world.  The course also considers factors that may be undermining states and nations today.