Did the study of state formation ever lose its religion? There’s a new wave of interest in the Catholic Church as an institutional formation.
Recentering the Catholic Church in European State Transformation
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Charles Tilly
Moving Beyond Tilly
Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Michael Martoccio, who is a PhD candidate of Early Modern History with a minor specialization in IR Theory at Northwestern University. His research broadly...
“War Made the State and the State Made War”
A few unconnected recent happenings have reminded me that I've meant to do a short post on Charles Tilly, bellocentric (or "bellicist") theories of state formation, and where all of this stands in...
A Short (and Hasty) Note on the Current Wave of Attacks
Tunisia Protests, APReaders probably already know that anti-western attacks are spreading beyond Egypt and Libya, and to non-US facilities. In Sudan, the German embassy is "in flames."And so on.How...
More Charles Tilly Posts
What to watch for
As the incredible events in Iran unfold--in the streets of Tehran and on Twitter--the obvious question is: is this the 'Green Revolution' or something else for which we don't have a pre-fab category.I would call your attention to two outstanding posts that give a very good insight into what to watch for. The unifying theme was perhaps best articulated by an anonymous Iranian commentator at Salon: "Legitimacy, much debated by social scientists, actually turns out to matter. It's not just force that rules..." (h/t). In short, this is a moment of contentious politics* where the legitimacy of...
Charles Tilly, 1929-2008
Some of our readers may have been wondering about the small flurry of Chuck Tilly posts in the last few weeks. Not long before then, many of his friends, colleagues, and former advisees learned for the first time that he was, once again, facing severe medical problems related to his lymphoma. Chuck subsequently moved to a hospice so as to maximize his comfort. He died yesterday morning.A few academic bloggers have begun to write memorial posts. Kieran has a nice summary of the breadth of Chuck's work at Crooked Timber,and more detail on his methodological writings can be found at Johann...
Charles Tilly wins Albert O. Hirschman Prize
Charles Tilly has won the 2008 Albert O. Hirschman Prize.From the announcement:“Charles Tilly is one of the most distinguished of all contemporary social scientists,” said Craig Calhoun, president of the SSRC. “He is the most influential analyst of social movements and contentious politics, a pathbreaker in the historical sociology of the state, a pivotal theorist of social inequality. Among the most eminent of sociologists, he is also a leading voice in history and political science and has played a hugely important role in integrating these fields. His 1975 book, The Formation of National...