This course focuses on the historical construction of the modern political system. The state, the citizenship, nationality and globalization are the main points of focus. Therefore, course graduates should be able to analyse the social and historical context of the political process, understand issue frame construction and the weight of structures within social evolutions.

The aim of the lecture is to introduce fundamental notions and authors of historical sociology of politics to students. The development of political systems from pre-state formations to modern states is presented. Emphasis is placed on the Weberian tradition.

Active lecture/seminar/workshop/tutorial participation

+written test  multiple choice 

 the compulsory reading? The WHOLE  book from Fukuyama: The origins of political order plus the content of the lectures

Password for log in to moodle course:

 politika

　

Topics for the exam 2023:

 

1.      Pre-state forms of politics: Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms (simple chiefdom, complex chiefdom)

2.        Early state: Theories of early state origin:

a.      Internal Conflict theories

b.      External conflict theories

c.       Population pressure, irrigation

d.      The leadership theories

e.      Systems theories

3.      Cases of early state origin (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Mesoamerica, Peru),

4.      Oriental despotism, hydraulic theory, China and India

5.      Patrimonialism by Max Weber

a.      Gerontocracy and primary patriarchalism

b.      Pure patrimonialism

c.       examples: Ancient Egypt, Persian empire, Merovingian empire,

d.      Eisenstadt’s concept of patrimonialism

6.      Feudalism by Max Weber

a.      Difference between the fief and the beneficium

b.      Contractual nature  of the relationship between the senior and the vassal.

c.       centralized feudalism introduced by the Normans

d.      Andreski comment of feudalism.

7.      Politics in Islamic world, military slavery

8.      The polity of estates (Ständestaat) and the Absolutist state

9.      Framework for  early modern state building by Fukuyama

                                                              i.       Weak absolutism

                                                            ii.       Successful absolutism

                                                          iii.       Failed oligarchy

                                                           iv.       Accountable government

10.   Development of Parliaments.

a.      Difference between French and English Parliament

b.        Patterns of the developments of the parliaments:

1.      Relatively long and continuous development

2.      Discontinuous development

3.      Late adoption of parliamentary forms

11.  Theories of the modern state

class theory

pluralist theory

elitist theory

Institutional statism

 

 

  code for microsoft teams:  p3ykhjz

*

 code for microsoft teams:  p3ykhjz

Structure of Lessons:

1. Sociology of politics versus political sociology.
2. Forms of social organization of power. Tribes, chieftains, states.
3. The emergence of early states.
4. Patrimonial and feudal political systems.
5. The development of feudalism according to Perry Anderson.
6. Oriental political systems, oriental despotism, the Asian way of production.
7. Imperial systems, Eisenstadt’s theory of historical-bureaucratic empires.
8. Absolutism and absolutist systems.
9. Elias’ theory of royal monopoly.
10. The political sociology of Barrington Moore Jr.
11. Theory of elite: Pareto, Mosca.
12. Theory of political fission: Lipset, Rokkan.
13. Theory of political parties: Weber, Michels, Ostrogorski


* Required reading:
- WEBER. M. Economy and Society. An Outline of Interpretative Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978. ISBN 978-0520028241.

* Recommended reading:
- ANDERSON P. Lineages of the Absolutist State. London: Verso, 1974. ISBN 978-0902308169.
- ANDRESKI. S. The Uses of Comparative Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964. ISBN 0520000242.
- LEWELLLEN. T. C. Political Anthropology. An Introduction. Westport: Praeger Publisher, 2003. ISBN 978-0897898911.
- MANN. M. The Sources of Social Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ISBN 1107610419.
- WITTFOGEL. K.A. Oriental Despotism. A Comparative Study of Total Power. New Heaven: Yale University Press, 1957. ISBN 978-0394747019.