Modern European states formed through reform waves rather than revolution
Evidence
A further criterion of research must be borne in mind, in order to emphasise the dangers inherent in the method of historical analogy as an interpretative criterion. In the ancient and mediaeval State alike, centralisation, whether political-territorial or social (and the one is merely a function of the other), was minimal. The State was, in a certain sense, a mechanical bloc of social groups, often of different race: within the circle of political-military compression, which was only exercised harshly at certain moments, the subaltern groups had a life of their own, institutions of their own, etc., and sometimes these institutions had State functions which made of the State a federation of social groups with disparate functions not subordinated in any way a situation which in periods of crisis highlighted with extreme clarity the phenomenon of ‘dual power’. … The modern State substitutes for the mechanical bloc of social groups their subordination to the active hegemony of the directive and dominant group, hence abolishes certain autonomies, which nevertheless are reborn in other forms, as parties, trade unions, cultural associations. The contemporary dictatorships legally abolish these new forms of autonomy as well, and strive to incorporate them within State activity: the legal centralisation of the entire national life in the hands of the dominant group becomes ‘totalitarian’. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1867 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: State-led reform and national wars dominate the formation of modern states; Modern states replace the mechanical bloc with active hegemony by dominant groups — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1867; The ideals of the French Revolution inspired various European movements. — Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking…, 1637 (+5 more)
Related
- State-led reform and national wars dominate the formation of modern states (similarity 0.83)
- Pre-modern states worked as mechanical blocs of semi-autonomous social groups with dual power (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- State-led reform and national wars dominate the formation of modern states
#corroborates(0.95) - Modern states replace the mechanical bloc with active hegemony by dominant groups
#expands(0.75) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1867 - The State-led dominant group blocks reform in regions it only holds by domination
#qualifies(0.72) - The French Revolution reactivated Rome and Charlemagne as historical legitimation
#complicates(0.72) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 225 - The ideals of the French Revolution inspired various European movements.
#complicates(0.70) — Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking…, 1637 - Successful revolutions ground themselves in inherited national territory
#contradicts(0.70) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 31 - Treaty ratification lets advocates frame reform as consistency rather than novelty
#expands(0.70) — , The Rod and the Child, 9059