View source for Failed States and Nation-Building


 
'''* Special Issue on Failed States and Nation-Building. By  Peter Turchin et al. Cliodynamics, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2012'''
 
URL = https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3rt56959
 
Material from the Evolution   Institute’s   held  working   conference  on  ''An Evolutionary Approach to the Twin Problems of Failed States  and  Nation-Building'' at Stanford University on December 3–5, 2011
 
 
=Summary=
 
"The  rise  of  a  centralized  state  that  commands  real  authority  throughout  its  territory  can  be  seen  as  the  reverse  of  the  process  by  which  a  state  loses  its  authority  and  gradually  crumbles  into  a  ‘failed  state.’  A  key  aspect  of  state  building  involves  establishing  the  internal  bonds  that  make  it  possible  for  a  disparate  congery  of  smaller-scale  groups  to  unite  within  a  larger  framework.  Both  formation  of  larger  social  units  from  smaller  ones  and  its  reverse,  disintegration, can be productively studied from the perspective of cultural and social evolution.  Given  the  intense  interest  by  policy  makers  in  both  state  development  and  disintegration,  it  is  surprising  that  the  many  studies  addressing  the  subject  have  almost  always  ignored  the  science  of  cultural  evolution.  What  explains  this puzzling absence? During the twentieth century Social Darwinism became a code word for the justification of social inequality, leading to policies such as genocide,  eugenics,  and  withholding  social  support  for  the  poor.  As  a  result,  the  processes  governing  evolution  of  societies,  groups,  and  states  became  a  pariah subject, as far as most branches of scholarship devoted to human behavior and culture were concerned.       That  situation  is  changing.  Nearly  every  human-related  subject  is  now  being  approached  from  an  evolutionary  perspective,  with  results  reported  in  the top scientific and academic journals. These results bear no resemblance to Social Darwinist theories of a century ago. They neither paint a grim portrait of human  nature  as  “red  in  tooth  and  claw,”  nor  paint  a  romantic  portrait  of  an  inherently  good  noble  savage.  Instead,  we  see  a  species  capable  of  the  full  range  of  outcomes,  depending  upon  how  our  genetically  evolved  dispositions  interact  with  environmental  circumstances.  Understanding  this  interaction  in  detail  has  enormous  potential  for  informing  policies  aimed  at  improving  the  human condition."
 
(https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3rt56959)

[[Category:Articles]]
[[Category:P2P State Approaches]]