Throughout history, innovations in military technology have transformed warfare, which, in turn, affected state formation. This interplay between warfare, military technology, and state formation is the focus of this text. Theoretically grounded in the bellicist approach to the study of war and state, which posits that war is a normal part of human experience, the book argues that the threat of war by powerful, predatory neighbors has been, until relatively recently, the prime mover of state formation. Using a historical approach, it explains how advances in military technology have transformed war, and how new modes of war in turn have transformed forms of politico-military rule, especially with regard to the relationship between the state, armed force, and the people.

By Walter C. Opello Jr.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction: War, State Formation, and Transformation
Chapter 2: Private War and the Feudal "State"
Chapter 3: Disciplined War and the Centralized Kingly State
Chapter 4: People's War and the National State
Chapter 5: Industrial War and the Managerial Welfare State
Chapter 6: Air-Atomic War and the National Security State
Chapter 7: Unmanned War and the Neoliberal State
Chapter 8: Internal War and the Weak State
Chapter 9: Conclusion: War and State Deformation
Bibliography
Index
About the Author