World Society and the Nation-State
If this island was just discovered...
What form would the following take
Government:
Economy:
Social Issues:
Culture-Institutions:







World models allow "structural isomorphism" between nation-states inspite of enormous differences in ritual,
customs and history.






Island Society development according to authors:
Government: Modem state agencies and ministeries, official recognition by other states, admission to the UN
Economy: Analyzed with standard models, data collected and policies organized for domestic and international transactions under state regulation




Social Issues'. Inhabitants are citizens, special protection for children, poor and elderly.
Culture and Institutions'. Population counted and classified according to census. Modern education, conception of medicine, science and family law institutions. Museums, standard history, tourism. Passing of their traditional society marked with nostalgia.
Quicker and more thoroughly than ever before


What happened historically but wouldn't today...
□  No debate whether "pre-discovery" population was morally human.
□  No suggestion that population should not have some "unalienable" rights.
□  No imperial rush to colonize.
□  Not taken as a dependent territory of another state.
□  Not allowed to be kept prisoners of their old society

The world as enactment of culture

Nation-State System

Rationalized World Institutional Culture Order
Individual Citizens and Human Identity



Organizations and Associations
Worldwide increase in
Women's Education


How it all happens:


world system   ------►  nation-state     ------►   individual



Nation-state
□  construction of identity
□  maintenance of identity
□  legitimization of individual and group interests

Construction of National Identity and Purpose:

□  Sovereign nation-state model
□  Recognized by the UN
□   130 new states since 1945
□  New states conform older states adapt
□  Dependent states that become sovereign don't revert
□  Decisions look autonomous but are scripted

Maintenance:

States unable to put "proper" policies in place receive external "support" not imposition.
If states resist: actors rely on myth of legitimacy



UHM
Ü
EQUALITY
And can expect external help
Pursuing external identities by creating agencies, nation states also promote domestic actors.
In Conclusion:
World-society models shape nation-state identities, structures and behavior via worldwide cultural and associational proceses.
World culture celebrates, expands and standardizes strong national actors
13*W
The result is states that are more isomorphic and change more uniformly than normally recognized