Bringing the State Back In.

• Author: Cantor, Eric
• Position: Book Review

BRINGING THE STATE BACK IN edited by Peter B. Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Theda Skocpol (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 384 pages.

Almost 20 years ago, a forward-looking pantheon of scholars predicted the importance of the state as an institution, even in an era characterized by reports of state decline, and collaborated on this influential volume. Its articles explore issues like state autonomy and state capacity in the realms of economic development, international relations and mediating social conflicts.

Charles Tilly, who alleges that the state is a protection racket, writes one of the most provocative essays in the collection. In his consideration of the formation of European states, Tilly describes a hyperrealist environment in which protostates concerned themselves with war-making, which enabled commercial activities and the extraction of taxes. These, in turn, supported further war-making and offered social groups an opportunity to balance the...