The Founding of Modern States

This book examines the rise of the modern state through six historical case studies of state formation.

Richard Franklin Bensel (Author)

9781009247207, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 November 2022

568 pages
23.6 x 15.8 x 3.7 cm, 0.927 kg

'In a sweeping analysis of the originary moments of modern states, Richard Bensel unpacks the dilemma of sovereignty, showing how necessary founding rituals manage the thorny simultaneity of membership, leadership and rules. Spanning four centuries and three continents while linking political philosophy to institutions as no other scholar quite could, Bensel teaches us that even democracies are birthed from moments that are non-democratic.' Daniel Carpenter, Professor of Government, Harvard University

The Founding of Modern States is a bold comparative work that examines the rise of the modern state through six case studies of state formation. The book opens with an analysis of three foundings that gave rise to democratic states in Britain, the United States, and France and concludes with an evaluation of three formations that birthed non-democratic states in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Through a comparative analysis of these governments, the book argues that new state formations are defined by a metaphysical conception of a “will of the people” through which the new state is ritually granted sovereignty. The book stresses the paradoxical nature of modern foundings, characterized by “mythological imaginations,” or the symbolic acts and rituals upon which a state is enabled to secure political and social order. An extensive study of some of the most important events in modern history, this book offers readers novel interpretations that will disrupt common narratives about modern states and the state of our modern world.

Preface
1. Introduction
Part I. The Founding of Democratic States: 2. 'The Rights of Englishmen' and the English Constitution
3. The Will of the People and the American Founding
Section I. From the Rights of Englishmen to the Declaration of Independence
Section II. From the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution
4. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen: The French Revolution
Section I. From the Estates-General to the Execution of the King
Section II. From the Fall of the Girondins to Napoleon
Part II. The Founding of Non-Democratic States: 5. The Dictatorship of the Proletariat: The Russian Revolution
6. Blood and Soil: The Founding of the Third Reich
7. Islamic Theocracy: The Iranian Revolution
8. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Political science & theory [JPA]