The Victory of the Sovereign State

Ch 8 of Hendrik Spruyt, The Sovereign State and Its Competitors: An Analysis of Systems Change (Princeton University Press, 1994)

Out of late middle ages emerged the sovereign state (England, France), city-league (Hansa), and eventually city-state (members of city-leagues).
Sovereign state
able to standardize units, taxation => facilitate internal trade
able to align interests of sovereign (monarch) with provinces, people
able to make international agreements because their people could be trusted to follow through
City-leagues: no central sovereign
struggled to standardize => barriers to internal trade
individual cities often defected for their own interests, distrusted whole
struggled to make international agreements because of lack of ability to enforce, defection
City-states: externally appeared like centralized states, but had similar problems to city-leagues within
viewed subject cities as second-class; denied citizenship => they had their own laws, felt little loyalty, easily defected when opportunity arose
Selection doesn't happen by military might/competition alone
Competitive pressure: economic development, mobilization of resources for war
Mutual empowerment: states recognized each other but not city-leagues, i.e. Hansa barely recognized in Peace of Westphalia
Mimicry/exits, institutional learning: seeing success of states, others copied institutional structures

Source notes

The Victory of the Sovereign State

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Poli 5: Intro to Comparative Politics