Right-sizing the State: The Politics of Moving Borders
Brendan O'Leary, Ian S. Lustick, and Thomas Callaghy
Abstract
This edited volume investigates the causes and consequences of the politics of moving borders. The theoretical concept of right‐sizing the state is developed from Ian Lustick's theory of state expansion and contraction as a process of institutionalization of territory and borders. Brendan O’Leary contributes a taxonomy of modes of regulating ethnic conflict. The volume's reaming authors apply Lustick's theory and O’Leary's taxonomy to historical cases, in large part aiming to explain the changing territoriality of states as a result of elite politics. By asking about how and under what circums ... More
This edited volume investigates the causes and consequences of the politics of moving borders. The theoretical concept of right‐sizing the state is developed from Ian Lustick's theory of state expansion and contraction as a process of institutionalization of territory and borders. Brendan O’Leary contributes a taxonomy of modes of regulating ethnic conflict. The volume's reaming authors apply Lustick's theory and O’Leary's taxonomy to historical cases, in large part aiming to explain the changing territoriality of states as a result of elite politics. By asking about how and under what circumstances central states might change their shape in response to ethnic upheavals and regionalists demands, the authors seek to expand options for aligning identities and states while preventing state collapse or violent conflict. The cases examined include Congo/Zaïre, India, Pakistan, Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union, Turkey, Iraq, Morocco, Indonesia, Jordan, Cyprus, Belgium, and Lebanon.
Keywords:
borders,
elite politics,
ethnic conflict,
identities,
India,
Jordan,
right‐sizing,
Soviet Union,
state,
territory
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2001 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199244904 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2003 |
DOI:10.1093/0199244901.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Brendan O'Leary, editor
London School of Economics
Author Webpage
Ian S. Lustick, editor
University of Pennsylvania
Author Webpage
Thomas Callaghy, editor
University of Pennsylvania
Author Webpage
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