Anthony Giddens 
The Nation-State and Violence 

The social sciences have long been based upon contrasts drawn
between the ‘militaristic’ societies of the past, and the
‘capitalist’ or ‘industrial’ societies of the present. But how
valid are such contrasts, given that the current era is one stamped
by the impact of war and by the intensive development of
sophisticated weaponry?

In setting out to address this and similar questions, this book
investigates issues that have been substantially neglected by those
working in sociology and social theory. Anthony Giddens offers a
sociological analysis of the nature of the modern nation-state and
its association with the means of waging war. His analysis is
connected in a detailed way to problems that have traditionally
preoccupied sociologists – the impact of capitalism and
industrialism upon social development in the modern period. The
result is a theory both of the institutional parameters of
modernity and of the nature of international relations.

The book is a sequel to the author’s much discussed
Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism. The
framework of social theory outlined in that work is here elucidated
in a systematic and thorough-going fashion. The novel and
provocative ideas which the author develops will interest those
working in a wide variety of disciplines: sociology, politics,
geography and international affairs.

Table of Content

Introduction.

1. State, Society and Modern History.

2. The Traditional State: Domination and Military Power.

3. The Traditional State: Bureaucracy, Class, Ideology.

4. The Absolutist State and the Nation-State.

5. Capitalism, Industrialism and Social Transformation.

6. Capitalism and the State: From Absolutism to the
Nation-State.

7. Administrative Power, Internal Pacification.

8. Class, Sovereignty and Citizenship.

9. Capitalist Development and the Industrialization of War.

10. Nation-States in the Global State System.

11. Modernity, Totalitarianism and Critical Theory.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.

About the author

Anthony Giddens is a British sociologist who is known for his theory of structuration and his holistic view of modern societies.