Dilemmas of the Modern State

This objective of this course is to give students an understanding the development and transformation of the modern state including an overview of major approaches - both empirical, normative and comparative - to the analysis of the modern state. The central organizing theme of this course is the relationship between the modern state and its response (or lack of) to emerging social, economic and environmental crises and the way these crises pose challenges to contemporary 'national' scales of statehood, welfare, and developmentalist state forms. A particular emphasis will be placed on the normative challenges these developments pose for conception of citizenship rights, distributive justice, and political community. The course will specifically explore the impact of forms of market-oriented restructuring on the organization and practice of democratic politics in Australia and elsewhere. The course will also analyse new patterns of political mobilization, contestation and resistance including those around gender and culture. Finally, we will survey a variety of methodological strategies through which scholars have attempted to decipher the forces shaping the state under conditions of heightened geo-economics volatility, and widespread adoption of 'austerity' politics across the globe.