"The nation-state, long the foundation of the international system, is suddenly in question both as a concept and as a political reality. In this book, a collection of experts investigate the variable forces - from global systems to local beliefs - that lead to civil violence, chaos and, perhaps, a new political order." "The State, Identity and Violence explores acts of mass violence occurring within national borders and examines the links that such acts have to personal identities and how they challenge the character or very existence of the state. Building upon the anthropological premises of holism and cross-cultural comparison, this volume shows how violent challenges to existing states should be conceptualized as layered problems, with a multiple array of causes. It not only goes beyond the "ancient hatreds" explanation, but also shows the inadequacy of the concept of "ethnic violence" and of theories which treat interests and identities as separate, sometimes opposed variables." "The book presents commentaries by respected theorists on the nation-state; the phenomena of state collapse; the state and political science; minority populations and the importance of culture. It also features case studies focusing on violence in Peru, India, the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Liberia, Angola, Chad, Somalia and Papua New Guinea. It will be of interest to students and researchers in the fields of Anthropology, Political Science, International Relations and Sociology."--BOOK JACKET.

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada.

Introduction : Violent Conflict and Control of the State / R. Brian Ferguson : Pt. I. Commentaries : 1. Comments on state, identity and violence / Eric R. Wolf -- 2. Forces of reaction and changes of scale in the world system of states / Joseph A. Tainter -- 3. The state concept and a world of polities under perpetual siege / Yale H. Ferguson -- 4. Tribalism, ethnicity and the state / David Maybury-Lewis -- 5. Culture, violence and ethnic nationalism : weighing alternative strategies of explanation and media representation / Kay Warren ; Pt. II. Cases : 6. Civil war in Peru : culture and violence in historical perspective / Linda J. Seligmann -- 7. "Religious" violence in India: Ayodhya and the Hindu right / Johanna M. Lessinger -- 8. The specter of superfluity: genesis of schism in the dismantling of Yugoslavia / Bette Denich -- 9. From the margins to the center : the Macedonian controversy in contemporary Greece / Anastasia Karakasidou -- 10. Liberia : civil war and the "collapse" of the settler state / Diana DeG. Brown -- 11. Angola and the fragmentation of the post-colonial African state / Helio Belik -- 12. A Cold War storyn: the barbarization of Chad (1966-91) / S. P. Reyna -- 13. The Cold War and chaos in Somalia : a view from the ground / Catherine Besteman -- 14. Conflicts versus contracts: political flows and blockages in Papua New Guinea / Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart.