THE STATE AND ITSDISCONTENTS TA Jacob O. Gold (jgold3@uic.edu)

ANTH100: The Human AdventureProfessor Smith

PART 1: HYPOTHESIS: PERIODS OF CRISIS AND COLLAPSEREVEAL HOW STATES FUNCTION AND WHY WE LIVE IN THEM.

VS.

SUBMITTING TO THE STATE: A VERY EXPENSIVE SOCIAL CONTRACT

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651CE)Code of Hammurabi (ca.1750BCE)

SOME SOURCES OF STRESS:

• Climate Change, Natural Disasters• Population Pressure• Economic Disruption• Inequality• External Aggression• Systemic Violence• NEW IDEAS

CASE 1: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1789-1799) AND THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION (1791-1804)

FRANCE CROP FAILURES ENLIGHTENMENT IDEAS FISCAL CRISIS CLASS CONFLICT CONTINENTALRIVALRIES

HAITI

• SUGAR PLANTATION SLAVERY • CLASS CONFLICT • REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS FROM FRANCE

Jean Jacques Dessalines (1758-1806)

CASE 2: COLLAPSE OF ANGKOR (CA. 800-1500CE)• MEDIEVAL WARM PERIOD ENDS(CLIMATE INSTABILITY, DROUGHTS, FLOODS)• HYDRAULIC SYSTEM CAN’T COPE • SIAMESE INVASION • RELIGIOUS CHANGE • ROYAL OVERREACH?

PART ONE CONCLUSIONS• STATE CRISIS CAN LEAD TO REFORM, REVOLUTION,

COLLAPSE, NEW STATES…

• STATE-LEVEL CHANGE INVOLVES MULTIPLE FACTORS REINFORCING EACH OTHER

• “STATES” COME AND GO, BUT THE STATE STICKS AROUND…

PART 2: RESISTING STATE* POWER

* OR NON-STATE ACTORS LIKE CORPORATIONS THAT MAY ALSO HAVE STATE CONNECTIONS

WEAPONS OF THE WEAK: EVERYDAY FORMS OF PEASANT RESISTANCEJAMES C. SCOTT (1985)‘Most of the political life of subordinate groups is to be found neither in the overt collective defiance [against] powerholders nor in complete hegemonic* compliance, but in the vast territory between these two polar opposites’ 

* Hegemony: from Greek ἡγεμονία hēgemonía, "leadership, rule”. The established political, social, and military dominance of one class or group over others. (Intra-state or Inter-state)

Public transcript: open public interaction between superordinates and subordinates

Hidden transcript: critique of power that goes on offstage, where the power-holders can’t see it

NON-VIOLENCE IS NOT “PASSIVE”

• Marches

• Sit-Ins

• Boycotts

• Protests

• Organizing

SOCIAL MEDIA AND 21ST CENTURY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

SOME PROS: Platform for organizing; Harder for state authority to disrupt.

SOME CONS: “Substitute or Substance?”, “Noise” …

WHAT DO YOU WANT, HOW WILL YOU GET IT?

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP OTHERS?