Jörgen Westerståhl Lecture 2024
Welcome to the Jörgen Westerståhl Lecture with Professor Anna Grzymala-Busse, Stanford University. The lecture is entitled: The Sacred and Societal Foundations of the State.
The Sacred and Societal Foundations of the State
Abstract
How do states arise? The canonical answer to this question concentrated on historical warfare and international conflict, and the pressure to extract resources to fund war. This was the dominant paradigm until a recent wave of research has refocused our attention on the religious, cultural, and economic underpinnings of the state. In a telling example, the medieval Catholic Church has turned out to be a fundamental force in European state formation. It both competed with medieval monarchs and provided critical templates for governing institutions, the rule of law, and parliamentary representation. In these new accounts of state-building, trade, family law, elite networks, fiscal institutions, and local volunteers all transformed how authority was exercised and legitimated. In ways both direct and attenuated, these forces shaped the long-run development of the state.