From: Jack Owens <owenjack@isu.edu>
Tom Hall recently (2 March) republished on H-WORLD his review
of Frank and Gills (eds.), *The World System* (1993), from the
*Journal of World-Systems Research*. Rereading the review
reminded me that I need help with the application of the
concept of State, especially in its application to Hall's
"precapitalist world-systems". I admit to considerable
confusion about this issue and hope that this query is at
least somewhat clear about the sources of my confusion.
The concept "State" appears to embody a nineteenth-century
deductive theory that we apply to empirically-discovered
phenomena. Once defined, "State" is then often reified so
that we speak about the "State" doing things or having things
done to it. The danger of the uncritical application of
familiar deductive theories is that we may thereby obscure
aspects of the human situation studied whose examination is
fundamental for our understanding. Perhaps if we are
discussing some of the highly-centralized, bureaucratic, and
militarily-dominant (over the local population at least)
regimes of recent centuries, such reification does little harm
to the world-systems approach. However, as one moves the
research focus to periods prior to about 1750, defining what
one means by "State" becomes more problematic.
The issue strikes me as particularly important for the work of
Hall and Christopher Chase-Dunn because they attempt to define
world-systems on the basis of interaction networks. What I
often see in works of a macrosociological bent is the lumping
together under the rubric "State" of interaction networks
whose nature may be a crucial empirical element in the
development of world-systems theory. One will not get the
necessary empirical data to achieve clarity of definition in
the development of this theoretical approach if the essential
research subject is obscured by the use of a particular
conceptual vocabulary.
Is there a conceptual content to the term "State" that makes
it worth using in talking about the last 5,000 years or so?
If so, where is the State in, for example, the Kingdom of
Castile during the reign of Philip II of Habsburg? or in the
Spanish Monarchy during the period 1580-1640?
Any help will be most appreciated.
Jack
J. B. "Jack" Owens
Department of History
Idaho State University
Pocatello, ID 83209 USA
Voice: (208) 233-8589
e-mail: owenjack@isu.edu
www: http://isuux.isu.edu/~owenjack