What is governmentality and how does it augment state power


1. Alec Murphy argues that there are two distinct elements to state sovereignty - "sovereignty as a principle governing relations between states", and "sovereignty as a political-territorial ideal." Explain these two elements, drawing upon examples from the reading and lecture, and describe the historical trajectories in adherence to them.

2. Nationalism, according to Alec Murphy, profoundly impacted the sovereign state system in the 19th century. Define nationalism and describe the complex role it played, including its effects upon both elements of state sovereignty.

3. Do nations have navels?-Ernst Gellner. Describe the nationalist/perennialist and modernist accounts concerning the age of nations. What types of evidence do they draw upon to support their claims and which do you find more convincing? Explain.

4. Robert Kaiser highlights the importance of "localizing the nation" and "nationalizing localities." What does he mean by this, and what are the various strategies that states pursue to territorialize national identity?

5. What is governmentality, and how does it augment state power and legitimacy? Describe the two main elements of governmentality outlined in lectures and readings provide examples of specific practices or strategies relating to each.

6. James Ferguson and Akhil Gupta claim that people "come to experience the state as an entity with certain spatial characteristics and properties." What are these spatial characteristics and how are they produced, according to Ferguson and Gupta?

7. How serious of a challenge to state authority and legitimacy are the forms of transnational governmentality identified by Gupta and Ferguson? Explain.

Please check the attachment below and use them to answer these questions. There is no word limit but they should be long enough to answer each question thoroughly(maybe 2-3 paragraphs or less?). Please choose five out of seven questions.

Resources :

Chapter 1 : Nature and Space

Chapter 2 : The State and Nationalism By John Breuilly

Ethnonationalism in the Contemporary World By Daniele Conversi

State Sovereignty as Social Construct By Thomas J.Biersteker and Cynthia Weber.

Spatializing  States : toward an ethnography of neoliberal governmentality By James Ferguson and Akhil Gupta.

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