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Rethinking the State: Perspectives on the Legibility and Reproduction of Political Societies Seeing like a State by James C.

Scott; Reproducing the State by Jacqueline Stevens; The Moral Purpose of the State: Culture, Social Identity, and Institutional Rationality in International Relations by Christian Reus-Smit Review by: Shannon Stimson Political Theory, Vol. 28, No. 6 (Dec., 2000), pp. 822-834 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/192222 . Accessed: 29/01/2014 08:55
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RETHINKING THE STATE and on theLegibility Perspectives ofPoliticalSocieties Reproduction


CT: Yale University NewHaven, C. Scott. SEEING LIKE A STATEbyJames Press,1998.445 + xivpp. NJ:PrincePrinceton, Stevens. Jacqueline REPRODUCINGTHESTATEby Press,1999.307 + xivpp. tonUniversity SOCIALIDENTITY, THE MORALPURPOSE OF THE STATE:CULTURE, RELATIONS INTERNATIONAL IN RATIONALITY AND INSTITUTIONAL Press,1999. Princeton University Princeton, NJ: Reus-Smit. by Christian 208 pp. C. Scott James thevery outset of SeeingLikea Statethat We learnfrom comparafocused a more narrowly with book-one to write another intended that is,a look sedentarization, tive Itwould havebeena bookabout question. peoples-slash-and-burn mobile ornomadic efforts tosettle atgovernments' homeless vagrants, Gypsies, hillpeoplesofSoutheast Asia,hunter-gathers, of why slavesand serfs-and a consideration runaway people,itinerants, inpart, becauseitso selwere"a perennial project-perennial, these efforts He has hasopted for anevenlarger project. (p. 1).ButScott domsucceeded" of andpractical problem thebookontheconceptual tofocus choseninstead where maybe underofstatecraft, legibility metier as a central "legibility" anditspeople.Onecanimmeto"map"itsterrain stoodas theneedofa state much is buta subset ofthis legibility see that sedentarization larger diately andpeoples"legible"to political Of course, bothlandscapes rendering as Scott's references ofpolitical rulers, endsis a time-honored preoccupation in TheLaws (p. 382) ortheRomancastra outlines to Plato'scity planning theneedsof todistinguish heseeksinitially However, (p. 55) wouldsuggest. much likea voyofitspeople, theidentity state to"discover" thepremodern thepopulaandto"arrange ofa colonizing power, imperial age ofdiscovery functions oftaxation, itsclassicstate conscription inwaysthat tion simplified ofthe modern" schemes those ofrebellion" "high andprevention (p. 2) from those andparticularly twentieth-century andtwentieth nineteenth centuries,
2000 822-834 POLITICAL THEORY,Vol.28 No. 6, December ? 2000 Sage Publications, Inc. 822

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totalistic stateplanners, whoseaim was nothing a utopian less than reconofsociety. struction Just as often, however, Scott characterizes all state metricsoflegibility as efforts notto"read"a peopleso muchas "write" them:
as disparate Suddenly, processes as thecreation ofpermanent lastnames, thestandardization ofweights andmeasures, theestablishment ofcadastral surveys andpopulation registers, the invention offree-hold the tenure, standardization oflanguage andlegaldiscourse, thedesign ofcities, andtheorganization oftransportation seemed comprehensible as attempts atlegibility andsimplification. In eachcase,officials tookexceptionally complex, illegible, andlocalsocialpractices, suchas landtenure customs ornaming customs, andcreated a standard itcouldbe centrally grid whereby recorded andmonitored. (P. 2)

The creative ofsuchmetrics aspects becomeall themore Scott apparent, suggests, whenwe recognize that suchefforts at legibility are necessarily partial, "abridged intended torepresent maps," that sliceofitthat inter"only estedtheofficial observer," and that theintended purpose of suchgridsis more toremake than toreflect reality (p. 3). "Thusa state cadastral mapcreatedtodesignate taxable property-holders doesnotmerely a system describe oflandtenure; itcreates sucha system through itsability togiveitscategories theforce oflaw" (p. 3). Ofcourse, this process ofcreation is also oneofdestruction, as Scott since, notes, "most states are,broadly speaking, 'younger' than thesocieties they purport toadminister" (p. 183),andas suchthese societieswilltypically have"independently" evolved"a diversity, complexity, and unrepeatability of social forms thatare relatively opaque to thestate, often so" (p. 184).Thus,every purposely suchcommunity rewritten legibly involves thedestruction ofa preceding one,andthemore comprehensive the plan,thegreater the destruction. Byfar, Scott continues, the greatest destructionhas beenperpetrated bythose"high modernist" socialengineers ofthe twentieth century suchas Lenin,Mao, Julius Nyerere, and Le Courbusier, and theutopian planning schemesthey respectively imposed(or directly influenced): collectivization in Russia;China'sGreat Leap Forward; comin Tanzania, pulsory villagization Mozambique, and Ethiopia;and urban planning theory as realizedin such new modelcitiesof Chandigarh and Brasilia. Whatis high modernism? Scott itas a totalistic characterizes "aspiration totheadministrative ofnature ordering andsociety" inspired bya hubristic, scientific self-confidence (p. 88). Scottlabels it an ideology, or rather an uncritical in technological faith andscientific "progress" shared bya spectrum ofpolitical ideologies ofthe Left andthe Right, whose is to"ratioeffort nally all aspects engineer ofsociallifeinorder toimprove thehuman condition" (p. 88). ForScott, high modernism provides the desire, the modern state

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use of ofthelegitimate terms as themonopolizer in Webenran (understood civilsociety and thelegibleand "incapacitated themeans, force) provides (p. 89). to build(dis)utopias" on which theleveled terrain provides Scottsupwith which andcase studies The sweepofhistorical examples a little conifoccasionally this rich, logicis extraordinarily cautionary ports conceived modernism is best that high states Forexample, heinitially fusing. in ofthebeliefs version evensaymuscle-bound) ofas "a strong (one might with industrialization wereassociated progress that scientific andtechnical World WarI" 1830until andNorth from roughly America inWestern Europe twochapters, of Scott'sfirst examples (p. 89). In thisway,thefascinating Gerandnineteenth-century in late-eighteenthscientific forestry detailing scientific farmschemes ofcompulsory Russian andSaxony), many (Prussia that were government under theCzarist ingandmodelvillageconstruction theperiodof WarCommutheOctober revolution during after "repeated vast schemes(1853-69) nism"(p. 44), and, finally, Baron Haussmann's of "forebears" Paris,weresimply underLouis Napoleonforredesigning moderns describes thehigh Scott however, what was tocome.Alternatively, technoofthe"avant engineers, planners, among as an eclectic garde group who andvisionaries," scientists, architects, administrators, crats, high-level McNamara, Saint Simon, Robert Descartes, cover a vast historical range. Plato, and Julius Nyerere, Jean Monnet, Trotsky, Robert Moses,theShahofIran, inthe as wellas Leninandothers, areplacedcomfortably David Lilienthal, ofseemingly "authorless" there area number samepantheon (p. 88). Indeed, ofAmerican inthis credo agrisuchas "the pantheon, practices high-modern analogies-RobertOwen's New culture" (p. 271) and some problematic on a civicrather Lanarkis said to "share"Mao's visionofman,"although andinapt level"(p. 341). Suchvaguereferences comparisons a national than toosimpliofhigh modernism as beingitself serve theconcept tochallenge dilute oneof that menandarguments orvaguean "optic," straw creating fied rational "theideaofroot-and-branch, engineering Scott's central arguments: high-modern of entiresocial orders"perpetrated by twentieth-century order different and a qualitatively is of botha quantitatively authoritarians the techScott schemes earlier argues, than (p. 97). Quantitatively, utopian took a intervention and for societal giant and organization capacities niques from Wallearned intheaftermath ofWorld WarI, andlessons leapforward werenotlost mobilization economic German ter Rathenau's unprecedented theconquest sitesfrom their turned on Leninandothers. they Qualitatively, and ofeliminating intheservice ofnature scarcity, want, andtransformation the transformation ofnatural thearbitrariness (p. 96) toengineering calamity itself. nature ofhuman

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While the oflater emphasizing destructiveness (orgenuinely high-modernist) schemes,Scott's accountis also sensitiveto the shortcomings of an acontextual or a rigidly oftheir unsympathetic intended aimsor rendering partial successes.Indeed, he implicitly itis no moretrue that recognizes of highmodernism than ofanyattempted prognostication that nothing ages so oratleastourideaofit.Urban quickly as the future, tocreate planners sought urbanhousingthatwas "cheaper, morehealthful, and moreconvenient" (p. 96). Anddespite themanifest orcommunal aesthetic ofa shortcomings planned suchas Brasilia, city Scott inan endnote recognizes "there that are, ofcourse, somethings that residents do likeabout inBrasilia: living thegovernment the facilities, high standard ofliving, andthe fact itis a safeenvithat ronment for children" (p. 385 n.65). TheaimofNyerere's in ujamaa villages Tanzania wasa development andwelfare for project the"efficient of delivery schools, clinics andcleanwater" andwas "not, as has often beenthecase,a part ofa planofpunitive ethnic appropriation, ormilitary cleansing security" (p. 223). However, in a seeming effort once again to sharpen a contrast between earlier and later versions ofthefaith, Scottclaims"twoimportant facts" about thenineteenth-century modern forebears": vir"high that "first, tually every high-modernist intervention was undertaken inthenameofand with thesupport ofcitizens seeking helpandprotection, that we and,second, are all beneficiaries in certainways, of these varioushigh-modernist schemes" (p. 96). Thefirst is certainly fact notsupported inthebookbyany historical ortextual evidence; the second is so vagueas tobe as unexceptional as itis unobjectionable. is an important there However, reasonScottwishesto stress thedistinctiveness ofthe twentieth-century high-modernist schemes. Unlike their forebears, centrally planned anddirected collectivization, villagization, andurban design systematically eradicated thesources oflocalexpertise andinitiative in theorganization ofcommunal andpolitical life.Metis is theGreekterm that usestorefer Scott tothat knowledge embedded inlocalexperience orthe accumulated skillthat a worker possesses ofhisowncraft andis composed of contextual that knowledge is described as "plastic, local,anddivergent" (p. 332). Metisis a form oftraditional knowledge, butthat does notmeanitis orfixed. rigid Rather, paraphrasing MichaelOakeshot's critique ofrationalism,Scottsuggests that "no traditional wayofbehavior, no traditional skill everremains fixed" (p. 332); itundergoes ifgradual, continual, change, or "stepbystep'muddling through"' (p. 328). Metisis thus seenas the"dark twin" ofhigh modernism, must which be presented contemptuously as "backward," "superstitious," or "irrational" bycentral planners in order to legitimatetheimposition ofa newandmore legiblegrid(p. 331). Paradoxically,

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and fluiddynamism, metis-with its diversity, then,it is traditional thatScott planning of centralized uniformity ity-ratherthanrational "progress" and political for economic possibility holdsthegreatest believes by institutions," a call for"metis-friendly (p. 335). He endsthebookwith and libspaces, private politics, democratic liberal means which hebasically economy. eralpolitical ofmetis leadsScott Theconcept proposal? ofScott's What arewetomake anddeveleconomic concerning authority decision-making tofavor pushing of the periphery at local actors and out to the center awayfrom policy opment would today Few economists analogies. market-driven thestate, andtofavor whowould tothose response hasa preprepared Scott However, opposethis. misHayek principles: is Hayekian recycled but analysis that such suggest Scott whereas order," with a "spontaneous as synonymous tookthemarket stateand would ofthenineteenth-century itas an "imposition" recognizes the (p. 8). Nevertheless, coordination" market unfettered resist "politically "libplanning, tohigh-modernist ofScott's resistances third anchor proposed on a visionofthe"science"of rests (p. 101),itself economy" eralpolitical be comadvisers. Scott mayinfact ofeconomic andtheexpertise economics incarnathat intheir present ofbelieving fallacy a secondHayekean mitting arenecessarnetworks ofknowledge market (i.e.,nonstate-controlled) tion, as welltobe an thought Hayekis surely andplastic. diverse, ilyautonomous, critoScott's sympathetic metis, andevena reader inspirer ofsucheconomic unfettered to thepolitically hisresistance tiqueis boundto ask whatform of state clearlyimpliesa weakening wouldtake.Scott'sanalysis market inorder localeconomies innational andparticularly andinvolvement power Ifthis is hismessage, solutions. ofmetis-based theplurality tomakewayfor tosee a criItis interesting converted. tothelargely Scott maybe preaching at evenoneso admittedly appearing elegant, planning, tiqueofstate-inspired seemtobe anerain ourswould the Without time. future, this prognosticating andinwhich hasbeendeclared solutions theendof"biggovernment" which and liberalization, mechanism, privatization, the languageof themarket intervention Eventhemost meager government is triumphant. globalization andfew with legisresistance, nowmeets political organized intheeconomy mechanism at least)havemeta market lators (hereandinmuchofEurope, like. didn't they aredisofmetis that someforms Scott Inall fairness, certainly recognizes arein markets as wellthat andherecognizes commodity day, every appearing liberal with economy (along political somepart (p. 335). Liberal responsible to state-inspired andprivate spaces)maybe thebarrier democratic politics nowcome metis to threats the whether greatest butone wonders planning, solufor the and all is said After high-modernist push done, from thestate.

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from tions inTanzania andEthiopia cameas clearly theWorld Bankas from a question toconthestates themselves (p. 410 n. 86,p. 411 n. 99). Indeed, be theextent towhich states sider arenowmore orlessimpotent inthe might face of theIMF, theWorld and "homogenizing" Bank,and theregulatory demandsof competitive capitalism. theoutcomes of the Unquestionably, twentieth most notorious werenightmares century's high-modern utopias of thisdoes notpreclude history. However, thethought that thenightmares of thefuture flowfrom a near-utopian might that thenatural or the pretense is powerful smallandfluid toresist the ofthe market. enough juggernaut Certainly, onequestion that Scott's andprovocative powerful bookmight leadus to consider is whether efforts at politically metis aresufficient to supported orwhether resist, (as in someBorgian "resistance is futile." future) In several Stevens's bookReproducing the important respects, Jacqueline a powerful, focused but Stateoffers alternatively equally cautionary perspecwith tiveon thestatecompared that of Scott.Theirprojects, whilesignifiinsubstance andapproach, for aninterestcantly different nevertheless make Stevens focuses shetakes tobe theimmemorial equallyon what practice of statesto makethepeopleand geographical under their rule landscapes is concerned "legible." while Scott However, about the influence that utopian ideas of thefuture exercise on thepresent, Stevens is primarily concerned with theopposite-that precisely ofthepast(oratleastinvois,thepresence cations ofit)andthose constraints that conventional frameworks conceptual of ideas ofthepastcontinue to exercise on ourpresent andfuture political life.Specifically, Stevens focuses on "theconditions that yieldtheparticular andmajorities" minorities (p. 5), suchas those ofrace, ethnicity, nationality, or gender, that andphilosophers contemporary theorists havesubpolitical Herconcern is with jectedto scrutiny. theconditions that shebelieves make forms of inequality. possiblecertain She beginswiththeobservation that whilecontemporary philosophers suchas John Rawlsunderstand political "as thelocation society that settles differences" (p. 4), itis also useful toconsider political society as a form ofmembership organization that necessarily givesriseto suchdifferences inthefirst place. A secondcontrast with Scott is readily inthefact observable that Stevens choosesnot to"define" thestate inWeberian expressly a terms, as possessing overthelegitimate use offorce, monopoly oreven"as a close synonym for as the government" ofcoercion institution (p. 56). "Rather," sheclaims, "here the'state'refers to one form ofa political society. A state as a membership has rulesforindividuals' organization inclusions and exclusions" (p. 56). WhileMax Weber wouldseethestate as the ultimate decision maker over the population within itsborders, Stevens claimshe is "moreinterested in the
ing comparison.

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andmarkets populations bodiestocontrol andpunitive ofregulatory abilities in one political individuals that setoff the provisions than inthemembership subgroups Weber, thevarious inanother" (p. 57). So, for from those society and in Economy "ethnicity"-which differing basedon their within a state religion, tradition, language, heredity, to include least is rendered Society at ofblood"(p. 57)-are intheaffinity ordisaffinity "andespecially thebelief and phenomena, in somecases "natural" to be preconstituted, considered of insucha group from theimperative wouldbe "separate thus membership (p. 57). andlegitimacy" thestate's sovereignty thisWeberian tendto incorporate Stevensargues, Politicalscientists, race,andethofgender, tomembership when "treat identities they approach of or "viewaffiliations as already coherent variables," independent nicity the pubthat comeinto andraceas pre-constituted groups nationality, family, particular interfor their arenas) tofight from these (orareblocked licspheres inScott's suggestion is present, for example, ests"(p. 56). Suchan approach or toadminister they purport the societies that states are"younger" than most priorcommunities superceded plannedcommunities thathigh-modern objecsources... however from nonstate derived mostly "whosecohesion (p. 191). Whileon a grounds" they mayhavebeenon normative tionable in suchstatements, true there is something obviously temporal grid strictly the"naturalizing" character ofsuchimplicit aimstoatleastdisrupt Stevens's for celebrations andtoraise unalloyed toself-determination problems claims tobe making. thestate suchas Scott Indeed, appear might ofsociety against or"natural" noprepolitical insofar as itmeans "not political," sheclaimsthat itis only as such.Rather, society, exist recognition bya political associations a "form ofbeing" that (p. xiii). in this case thestate, givessuchassociations ofits forms ofbeing anddisorderly taxonomizes the"orderly The state thus ruleson birth ofkinship certificates, thereproduction population-through the andso forth" account, (p. xv).On Stevens's licenses, passports, marriage 'outwhois 'deviant,' allthe us "legible" determining state makes waydown, creas theultimate inthis understood way, law,'or 'alien' (p. xv).Ofcourse, ofconformity anddevinorms enforcer ofmembership atorandlegitimate Weberian. also sounds state strangely taxonomizing ance,Stevens's the Stateis a complex In a series chapters, Reproducing ofdensely packed of affiliation based on nationality, ethnicity, race,and look at theconcepts ofpolitical basicform ofa more howeachis a corollary andsuggests family as it Not all societies that membership, based on kinship. regulate society itis a group's Stevens societies. regulaclaims, arepolitical Rather, turns out, which requires tion ofmembership "paradigmatically kinship, bycontrolling one (p. 93). renders ita political at birth" (p. 95), that entry

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aim is ofthebookis then focused on thisconvenThe critical squarely method ofpolitically ancestral tional, typically marriage-based establishing "Aslongas there arepolitical societies basedonkinship communities: forms, there willbe far-reaching ofviolence that follow from thecorollary practices ofnationality, ties"(p. xv). Stevens forms insists ethnicity, race,andfamily shewants toavoidessentialist ofidentification these that arguments involving conceptsand insteadwishesto explorea "phenomenological argument" of thedichotomy and culture aboutthejuridical between nature rendering associations ofcertain affiliations suchas family, andthemetonymic nation, "someprimordial andracewith darksideofthehuman condition" (p. 16). is an archetypal The use oftheterm instance of"thephenomenolfamily societogyoftheartificial-as-natural" (p. 57 n.20). Within differing political in notably ies, families are constructed different ways,and theterm itself "the comestoconvey naturalized over thestructure ofgroup rules only patina formembership" a set of wide-ranging into (p. 57). Through explorations theories of languageand linguistic idiom,anthropological studies, Durkheimian and a welter sociologyof religion, of individual historical documents andcontemporary case studies, from inearly ranging ligeance bybirth modern toAmerican England antimiscegenation some law,Stevens punches impressive holesin arguments that suggest (or worse, assume)that lineage, arefixed attributes "ofa pre-political, nationality, race,andgender biological individual" (p. 176). Alongtheway, sheperforms a deft demolition on the of some current foundations for the essential sociologist'sarguments ofnationalism. She also produces "modernity" somehumorous, ifcaustic, ofthelackofdisciplinary observations insomerecent coordination research on theconcept ofrace:"Whilepolitical scientists arebusystudying 'races' based on illogicaltypologies that havebeenrepudiated bythepeoplewho developedthem, are deciding anthropologists thatpoliticalcommunities havesomething to do with what we call 'race"' (p. 204). At other points, Stevens's critical however, analysis falters, employing excessive analogizing, caricature, andgratuitous sniping, as whenshe sugMichaelWalzer's geststhat ofthefamily concept "is liketheNationalGeographic specialthat cheerfully anthropomorphizes theloving lioness andher cubs"(p. 8), orthat hiswillingness inSpheres ofJustice toaccept the"prerogatives ofpolitical societies toregulate membership according tofamily ties" finds implicitly acceptable "peoplestarving todeath inEthiopia, dying incattlecarsenroute totheUnited States from Mexico,andlosing their homes for want oftheright ethnicity inBosnia," sinceall ofthese "necessarily follow" from thesameprerogatives (p. 7). Inaddition, Stevens manages a very broad range ofresearch materials, but commits somebasichowlers. Theauthor ofOntological Relativity and Other

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King, oftheScottish Quine,notThomasQuine.The accession VanOrman peothe Scottish make didnot "byextension" English throne James VI, tothe (p. 128).TheScotofa "conquest" not byreason andcertainly ple"English," onthe sameperson were settled (James I) crowns tish VI) andEnglish (James and lawsofsuccession, confluence oftwoindividual onlybyan accidental enjoyed postnatiScotsmen justiceclaimsthat Calvin'scase andthenatural exagtosupport the do nothing andlegalcapacities separate political through thesuggestion misnomer. Likewise, imposition ofsucha linguistic gerated forto theapparent someEnglishness that Coke neededto "impute Edward a tojustify andhisTenuresinorder (de) Littleton ofThomas eigncharacter" on is misleading inFrench, was written commentary on it,sincetheoriginal inLaw-French, Of Tenureswas written several counts (p. 163).The treatise is a technical to his commentary the introduction clearly notes in which Coke comand topronounce, "most language-"a vocabula artis"-very difficult written What hedidnot needtotell andread, andvery rarely spoken."' monly Year oftheEnglish was that thiswas also thelanguage lawyers ofhistime his That as the sources of work. which Littleton drew BooksandReports upon name was the fact that Littleton's as common knowledge, wouldhavebeen nolessbecauseitwasthe should be ofinterest toStevens andfamily-which inheritable" settled on her "issue bya prenuptial family, nameofhismother's Westcote-was husband Thomas withhercourtier longestabagreement of as judge common as was hisdistinguished reputation lishedin England, inner ofthefifteenth century. famous templar themost pleasandas certainly ofa commenthe relevance domestic havehadnoneedtojustify Cokewould in England was ofa manwhoselegalandpersonal on thework legacy tary to suchexceptions hisown.Although than maybe raised equal toorgreater of theconstruction somearguments concerning hersuccessin buttressing thefactthat from shouldnotdetract with historical cases,they nationality a book to attract a and has written likely original very provocative Stevens wideaudience. and InstituIn The Moral Purpose of theState: Culture,Social Identity, is conReus-Smit tional Rationalityin InternationalRelations, Christian maketheir landsandpopulations states thewaysin which less with cerned rulesthan decision ormembership making making legibleto governmental institutions and the"fundamental ofinternational totheorists politics legible Reussocieties ofstates. structure institutional differing practices" (p. 5) that of what he takes tobe thefailure inexploring interested Smitis particularly their differandconstructivists-despite realists andneorealists, neoliberals, balance lies inthe relations thecoreofinternational on whether ingpostures orthepractical under ofpower, imperanarchy, anddistribution cooperation

Willard is thephilosopher andbibliography, inboth thetext Essays, as cited

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account for either thegeneric nature of atives ofsovereignty-to "adequately ofsovfundamental institutions orinstitutional variations between societies his project as one of He describes ereign states" (p. 4) throughout history. international notcontempoand comparative "international theory history, a bookofscarcely 170pages, rary institutional politics" (p. 11). However, for ambitious this turns outto be a very project. of timeon a thoroughgoing The core of thebook spendslittle critique reiterates John ofinternational relations. Reus-Smit other Ruggie's paradigms no meansby neorealism" of "Waltzian critique (p. 89)-that it "provides todescribe, the most contextual change which toaccount for, oreven important inthis theshift from themedieval tothe ininternational millennium: politics thelimitamodern international system" (p. 89). AndReus-Smit highlights ofinstitutional rationality implicit tionsofthe"deontological" conceptions in neoliberal regime theory:
that context-free rational modelsofinstitutional Abstract rationality imagine timeless, andunconstituted valuesandhistorical cannot unfettered actors, bycultural experience, Greeks chosearbitration to solvetheir problems, explainwhytheancient cooperation theRenaissance Italians choseoratorical oftheabsolutwhy diplomacy, why Europeans states istperiod chosenaturalist international law and old diplomacy, or whymodern havechosencontractual international andmultilateralism. (P. 160)

It is especially useful to quoteReus-Smit at length herebecausehiscriofdeontological to explain whydifferent tiqueof thefailure neoliberalism societiesof sovereign statescreatedifferent fundamental institutions providesa succinct outline for the heconducts inthe project book.His aimis "to informed constructivist offundamental institudevelopa historically theory construction" tional on identifying thediffer(p. 5) that placestheemphasis one ing ontological commitments that distinguish societies of statesfrom another. on Ruggie'sdevelopment of a historically informed "conElaborating structivist on modern as wellas thework international perspective society," historian anapproach ofthe AddaBozeman, Reus-Smit takes tointernational relations as "holistic theory characterized constructivism" (p. 165). This somefairly hisapproach beginswith significant assumptions: throughout societies of states tory, enjoysimilar structural conditions (i.e., statesoverofstates also share a certain set eignty) (p. 160); suchsocieties homogeneous of"intersubjective values"reflected ina unique belief about the "hegemonic moral ofthestate" is then to "find" the purpose (p. 6). Reus-Smit's method beliefthat the"justifying forthe single,hegemonic provides foundations of sovereignty and informing thenorm of procedural organizing principle

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justice"(p. 6). He doesso for four societies ofstates: ancient Greece(cultivation ofbios politikos),Renaissance Italy (pursuit ofglory), absolutist Europe (maintenance ofdivinely ordained social order), andmodern society (augmentation ofindividuals' purposes andpotentialities). Reus-Smit promises "enhanced heuristic power" toexplain thedivergent institutional practices that characterize different societies ofstates, buthere thesevere brevity ofhisproject andparticularly oftheschematic histories of thecrucial socialandcultural "contexts" putatively giving risetohegemonic intersubjective moral principles fails todeliver. Theanalysis ofthe"substantive moral views"ofa thinker suchas AdamSmith is a cartoon ofthe"homo economicus" ofthis reading thinker, suggesting a complete innocence ofthe factthat Smith has beenmorerecently embraced bytheorists ofbothcivic virtue republicanism and"cosmopolitanism." Suchrevisions should presumablycomplicate hiscontribution anyargument about tothe hegemonic moral viewofliberalism as stated here. The analysis ofwhy "theancient Greeks" chosetheinstitutional practice of"interstate arbitration" is similarly basedon virtually thumbnail sketches in Ancient of "The Extraterritorial Institutions Greece"(twopages),"The Constitutional Structure ofAncient Greece" (three pages),and"ThePractice of Interstate followedby an all too briefrereadingof Arbitration," "incontext" Thucydides's Peloponnesian War (pp. 55-61).On this reading, ofthePeloponnesian theAthenians andSpartans ofculWar-irrespective aresimply tural differences that elidedhere-are thought toshare a homogein themoral thecity-state neousbelief ofthestate: "that existed to purpose form facilitate a particular ofcommunal marked life, bytherational pursuit is a ofjusticethrough action andspeech"(p. 62). One might that this argue view hedgedmoretoward an Athenian rather thana Spartan perspective, wereinclined own comments on how little givenThucydides's Spartans In general, Reus-Smit choosesto setasidejusthow toward speechmaking. life weretheforms ofcommunal different andpolitical structures strikingly their ofthewarinfavor ofemphasizing ofthese atthetime opposedpowers as the"corefundacommitments tothird-party arbitration shared putatively brief the resolution. mental institution" (p. 49) ofinterstate dispute However, evidence offered hereis hedged forlackofempirical ofarbitration account from theavailableeviwith therecognition that "itis difficult togeneralize cases is unknown" whentheuniverse of arbitral dence,especially (p. 51). Reus-Smit'sfinal, Such an admissionwould thenseem to undermine hadnotimagined thestate as claimthat "iftheancient Greeks counterfactual a discursive of procedural they did,and notembraced conception justice, as the haveemerged there that arbitration would then is little reason tobelieve so. institution" corefundamental (p. 62). Exactly

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herewithReus-Smit's Thereis no disagreement expressed historical claimthat forms ofarbitration wereusedtodecidecases within interGreek relations. Andhistorians suchas Victor state havelongconsidered Ehrenburg thevarious unions individual Greek either characterized transcending states, center by a religious ofpolitical (amphictyonies), bytheexigencies power (hegemonic alliances), orbypubliclaw (leagues).In thelatter twocases at suchsocieties ofstates least, forms ofsecularized employed arbitradiffering tionthat the"appealstodivine probably replaced intervention" ofan earlier moreproblematic is Reus-Smit's age.2However, to demonstrate inability that thepractice ofagreement conclusively toarbitration a substanimplies commitment to one moralprinciple, tive,shared that of Arisparticularly totle's biospoliticos philosophically expressed (p. 46). In a concluding Reus-Smith notes that afterthought, Aristotle had actually little to sayaboutrelations between states he might also (p. 170). However, havenoted that lifeandthought Aristotle's failtooverlap with that ofeither ownlifetime ortheperiod Thucydides's ofthePeloponnesian War. His Constitutions which Reus-Smit doesnot doesusefully chronofAthens, mention, icleAthens' political anddemocratic lifethrough this tothe period endofthe fifth at whichpoint century, Aristotle's of theindependent constitustudy lifeofAthens tional ended.In historically contextual Aristotle's life terms, the paralleled endofAthenian andcity-state dominance. He might therefore be better inreaction toan evolving interpreted international of"Helsociety lenistic" states dominated bythemonarchic hegemon, Phillip of Macedon andhisson-Alexander the Great-rather inthe than context ofthe wars ofa previous century. Itis difficult tocompare therelative merits ofthree suchdifferent considerations ofthestate. Despite differences offield andoftheoretical perspective, itseemsfair however, to saythat ScottandStevens share a desire to submit state-centered ofreforming processes andreproducing political association to renewed critical Theirefforts scrutiny. are,of course, strikingly at odds with Reus-Smit's proposal torethink international relations theory basedon theshared ontological commitments that he believes notonlyunify individual states butalso inform theinstitutions oflarger societies ofstates within theinternational order. This contrast mayalso reflect thepresent methodologicalfixations of international relations literature on thestatesuchthat evena constructivist treats itas a unitary actor basedoncommon values.For ScottandStevens, itis nottoomuch tosuggest that state institutions largely create rather than reflect suchvalues.Thesetwoauthors, in particular, provokea reconsideration ofthestate's pervasive andformative power overthe identities and thesocial and political livesof citizens. However, their concernsdivideoverScott'scelebration of societyagainstthe stateand his

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POLITICAL THEORY /December 2000

adaptation, as if the counterposition of stateplanning to social pragmatic Considered as a group, the engineering state was theonly onethat mattered. a range inthe theoretical and three booksreflect ofwelcome renewed interest practical implications ofhowwe conceptualize thestate. -Shannon Stimson ofCalifornia, Berkeley University

NOTES
PartoftheInstitutes Coke,TheFirst oftheLaws ofEngland;orA Commentary 1. Edward revised andcorrected andCharles Butler, 19th ed.,2 vols. uponLittleton, byFrancis Hargrave (London:J.& W. T. Clarke, 1832), 1:xxxix. TheGreek State(London:Basil Blackwell, 1960),103-42. 2. Victor Ehrenberg,

is a professor Stimson Shannon of California, ofpoliticalscienceat the University andpolitiwhere sheteaches andthe history ofeconomic Berkeley, political philosophy cal thought.

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