The state as container: territoriality in the modern world-system
The metaphor of state as container is developed first in terms of the history of "filling the container" & second in terms of contemporary concerns for the demise of the state as a "leaking container." The construction of a spatial congruence among political, economic, cultur...
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| Published in: | Progress in human geography 1994-06, Vol.18 (2), p.151-162 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | The metaphor of state as container is developed first in terms of the history of "filling the container" & second in terms of contemporary concerns for the demise of the state as a "leaking container." The construction of a spatial congruence among political, economic, cultural, & social activities within the modern territorial state is described from the seventeenth-century mercantile state to the twentieth-century welfare state. Contemporary diversions from the dominance of this single scale of activity involve economic functions moving upward to multistate arrangements, cultural identities moving downward to more local scales, but with political power continuing to reside largely at the state scale. This triple layering of activities is particularly problematic for the future of the state as social container. It is concluded that predictions of the demise of the state are premature because territoriality is too useful a strategy to disappear. However, since world environmental processes transcend political boundaries, territoriality contributes to the global ecology problem, thereby presenting a future threat to states. 31 References. AA |
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| ISSN: | 0309-1325 1477-0288 |