Coercion and Consent

This book examines the key institutional structures and processes of modernity. Combining historical insight with sustained political and social analysis, Hall analyses the form and character of capitalism, war, late development, civil society and the the causes and collapse of socialism and addesses the revival of nationalism and the possibilities of democratization. Acknowledgements.

Introduction.

1. Capstones and Organisms.

2. A Curious Stability.

3. An Absolute Collapse.

4. State Power and Patterns of Late Development (written with Ding-Xin Zhao).

5. Consolidations of Democracy.

6. Nationalisms, Classified and Explained.

7. Will the United States Decline as Britain did?.

8. The Weary Titan? Arms and Empire, 1870-1913.

Conclusion: The State of Post-Modernism.

Index.

John A Hall is Emeritus James McGill Professor of Sociology at McGill University and the author of many books including Powers and Liberties: The Causes and Consequences of the Rise of the West (Blackwell, 1985), Liberalism: Politics, Ideology and the Market (Paladin, 1988), Coercion and Consent: Studies on the Modern State (Polity, 1994) and International Orders:Essays, Interpretations and Rejoinders (Polity, 1996).

The debate about the nature of modernity and postmodernity has been extensive. Yet, this debate has focused overwhelmingly on the cultural sphere. This volume, in contrast, examines the key institutional structures and processes of modernity.

In particular, Coercion and Consent examines the form and character of capitalism, the dynamics of war, problems of late development, the nature of civil society, causes of the collapse of state socialism, the revival of nationalism and possibilities for democratization. The central thesis of the book is that modernity arrived well before most social theorists imagined, and it established structures of power and expectation that look set to remain with us far longer than the theorists of postmodernity claim.

John Hall offers a fresh voice to the discussion about the prospects of modernity, combining historical insight with sustained political and social analysis.