Outwitting the state
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Outwitting the state
(Political anthropology, v. 7)
Transaction Publishers, c1989
Available at 11 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographies and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
A characteristic response to the imposition of state power by the conquered, oppressed, and powerless is a pattern that Skalnick calls "outwitting the state." This collection of essays, the latest in the distinguished series in Political Anthropology, challenges the widespread view that the state is a natural holder of authority in society.Using examples of confrontations between European states and polities outside Europe, the authors show that the power model is not universally applicable. Traditional or neo-traditional polities are founded on authority derived from a high degree of overlap between the interest of rulers and their subjects. In these contexts, power based on physical coercion is not the source of authority. When these archaic polities are subjected to an imported state power, they respond by finding ways to outwit state power and preserve their political and cultural identity.Examples from Africa, Oceania, Asia, and North America support this radically different conception of politics. The authors argue that this less confrontational approach to state power is not only possible but desirable. The "powerless" may be unable to confront state power by violence or the threat of violence, but they outwit it by ingenious techniques. Their own power derives from their use of knowledge, experience, consensus, compromise, and other qualities broadly shared by the population as well as their rulers. The new and different approach gives ordinary people a chance to achieve political goals without looking to the state.This collection will be of interest to anthropologists and political scientists, and others interested in state power and the struggle to achieve political goals by those who have no access to power.
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