Someone just wrote to ask what to read on the nation state. Interesting phrase. It is different from the state, which is ancient. The nation state as we know it is a modern invention — also called the managerial state. The idea is that the state survives and is independent from its head. It has a life that exists outside the dictator, president, monarch, or whatever. It is also called the impersonal state, and its heartbeat is the bureaucracy, and it certainly has a genesis in the late medieval period. It is the only state anyone in the developed world has known for centuries.
Ok, so what book on this topic in particular? A book that gets far less attention than it should, a book of marvelous brilliance, a book that should be read by every student of politics: Rise and Decline of the State, by Martin van Creveld.
No, it is not online. Blame the publisher, not us. We made a special arrangement just to have these available. In fact, our stock at the current price is rather limited. I don’t even know if we can get more in the future. I would love to see it land in our hands at some point so that we can free it into Creative Commons, But I sincerely doubt that will happen. In any case, so long as we have it in stock at a reasonable price, you seriously owe it to yourself to devour this great work and tell others about it.
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Of course, Mises wrote a book on this subject. Hey, and look! It’s available on Mises.org! (I’ve never read it, but I hear it is quite good.) Guess what? I’m going to buy it now.
http://mises.org:80/store/Nation-State-and-Economy-P320.aspx
Just a quick note. While you can fairly easily find a copy of this work through various file sharing sites, you should not download it, as this would be in violation of certain copyright laws and so on.
“Someone just wrote to ask what to read on the nation state. Interesting phrase. It is different from the state, which is ancient. ”
I’m wondering if Jeff Tucker is confusing state and nation here?
I second Jeff Tucker’s recommendation. The van Creveld book is simply amazing – a must for any libertarian interested in learning the history of how States have seized increasing control.
I haven’t bought it, but it should be in any good library.
Yeah, if anyone wants to check it out before purchasing it, it can easily be found in pdf form with a quick web search.
ok, I thought I’d seen it all. amazing. it does give one hope, doesn’t it?
“I’m wondering if Jeff Tucker is confusing state and nation here?”
Probably. How is a nation-state different from a city-state other than by size and scale?
More precisely, a genuine working knowledge of the Democratic Welfare Nation State is the pinnacle
of understanding in megapolitics.
IMHO, the founders of ACORN, for example,
shouldn’t understand it better than you.
More precisely, a genuine working knowledge of the Democratic Welfare Nation State is the pinnacle
of understanding in megapolitics.
IMHO, the founders of ACORN, for example,
shouldn’t understand it better than you.
The best book I have found which provides
a thorough background on today is
The Sovereign Individual, by Davidson and
Mogg.
I would also add “The State” by Anthony de Jasay. Truly one of the overlooked greats of our time.
I would also suggest North, Wallis, & Weingast’s “Violence and Social Orders”.
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