The adoption of the neo-liberal model in the mid-1980s has forced the governing elites to reconfigure the Mexican State. However, the consolidation of a neoliberal State continues to be incomplete and it has been problematic to fully integrated the Mexican economy in the global market due to the increasing organized crime, the dismantling of previous post-revolutionary control mechanisms, and the growing mobilisation of organised indigenous opposition ranging from the peaceful obstruction of hydroelectric mega-projects in their territories to armed struggle. In view of the State crisis, this thesis argues that there has been a shift in the system of control mechanisms of the State that is leaning towards a more recurrent use of open violence to implement its neo-liberal State project. From a theoretical perspective, the research proposes an innovative approach to understanding the formation of the post-revolutionary State, which transcends the State violence dichotomy established between the ´corporatist´ and the ´critical´ approaches in the contemporary literature. The research highlights the wide spectrum of control mechanisms from hegemonic domination to violence used by the governing elites to compensate the unfinished State formation process in order to maintain socio-political stability without profound structural changes. It explores the enhanced tendency of State violence to replace incorporation in Statesociety relations since the efforts to restructure the economy from the 1980s onwards. The thesis analyses how this tendency has grown particularly in response to indigenous movements in the South of Mexico. The argument is substantiated empirically with two case studies undertaken in the sub-region of Costa Chica-Montaña of Guerrero with data from 79 semi-structured interviews with a wide range of social and political actors, and participant observation in ten indigenous communities. The case studies explore the different State control mechanisms used to advance the State formation model in the post revolutionary period; the impact of the crisis of those mechanisms in the sub-region; the violent resistance of local bosses to the loss of power, and the multiples indigenous responses to the implementation of neoliberal policies in their territories. This research also includes a comparative study to explain some factors that strengthen indigenous articulations, as well as their limits in an era of neoliberal globalisation. One of the most important research findings is that neoliberalism has further weakened the 'civilianisation' power of the State to deal peacefully with civil society sectors, particularly with indigenous peoples, while it has strengthened its 'centralised-coercive' power to carry out the imposed State model. Another finding is that the indigenous initiatives that have reinvented themselves through a new version of their practices and broader alliances have consolidated their alternative models. In contrast, the indigenous responses that have reproduced their traditions have failed.

In this thesis, the educational politics in Sweden during the years 1611-1649 are examined to identify the power relationship between the church and the state. Although education was traditionally considered an activity of the church, the state laid claim to the founding of schools. However, the development of the Swedish school system during this period has been largely ignored by previous research. Through an analysis of correspondence between local administrators and the crown and different curriculums, this thesis seeks to answer the question: ‘who was actually involved in this reform and how did they conduct the process?’. The argument of this thesis is based on two theories which explain the early modern Swedish state formation; the historian Jan Glete's bottom-up process of state formation and the sociologist Philip Gorski's top-down process. This study shows that the reformation of the Swedish school system was initiated by the state. The church, represented by the local bishops, was however the other leading agent of crucial importance. It was not just offering legitimization of the power and taxation of the state, but also ideological access to educational institutions. This strengthened the political position of the clergy. By bargaining the Crown accomplished that schools were integrated and adopted to the infrastructure of the state.

The rapid expansion in the size and effectiveness of the British fiscal-military state between 1689 and 1713 has been analysed by historians such as John Brewer and Michael Braddick as the outcome of increasingly impartial, rational and professional bureaucratic administration. Yet recent work on state formation in Britain and Europe has emphasised that effectiveness often arose from practices usually dismissed as inefficient or corrupt. This thesis provides a new paradigm by comparing fiscal-military structures to contemporary commercial enterprises, which functioned by coordinating the efforts of suppliers and buyers. Coordination was achieved in turn through mutual trust, which overcame principal-agent problems and reduced transaction costs. This thesis suggests that by analogy, those polities that could encourage cooperation and mutual trust between autonomous officials, agencies and private contractors enjoyed the greatest success as fiscal-military states. In the mercantile or financial world trust was created through kinship and friendship, as well as common religious, ethnic or national identities, which contained inbuilt informal mechanisms for policing behaviour. This thesis examines the financing and supply of the British army in Ireland and Europe between 1689 and 1713 to conclude that these elements also served to create trust within state structures, and that even political partisanship – normally dismissed as a disruptive, even destructive, influence – generated a community of shared political interests that encouraged trust and improved coordination. It also demonstrates that officials, politicians and financiers constructed politicised networks that interlocked efficiently with each other, permitting the improved coordination of public and private credit, and even informal financial intermediation intended to maintain the liquidity of the army’s fiscal structures. It therefore concludes that the success of the British fiscal-military state during this period was the product of improved informal coordination rather than institutional change and bureaucratic reform, and that political partisanship was integral to this process.

In this thesis, the educational politics in Sweden during the years 1611-1649 are examined to identify the power relationship between the church and the state. Although education was traditionally considered an activity of the church, the state laid claim to the founding of schools. However, the development of the Swedish school system during this period has been largely ignored by previous research. Through an analysis of correspondence between local administrators and the crown and different curriculums, this thesis seeks to answer the question: ‘who was actually involved in this reform and how did they conduct the process?’. The argument of this thesis is based on two theories which explain the early modern Swedish state formation; the historian Jan Glete's bottom-up process of state formation and the sociologist Philip Gorski's top-down process. This study shows that the reformation of the Swedish school system was initiated by the state. The church, represented by the local bishops, was however the other leading agent of crucial importance. It was not just offering legitimization of the power and taxation of the state, but also ideological access to educational institutions. This strengthened the political position of the clergy. By bargaining the Crown accomplished that schools were integrated and adopted to the infrastructure of the state.

Using Tanzania as a case-study, this dissertation approaches the land grab issue in Tanzania with the following two main research question: How are new farmland investments shaping political dynamics and actors’ interactions in Tanzania? And, how actors’ interactions between and within levels of governance influence farmland investments’ outcomes at the local level? I tackle these questions by proposing an original theoretical framework which is based on two main assertions. First, local outcomes associated with farmland investments in Tanzania result from actors’ interactions. Second, these interactions are shaped by the interplay between three main elements: contingencies (C), actors’ agency (A), and structure (S). I use the acronym CAS to refer to these three elements. CAS, by combining various theoretical insights, is analytically productive because it furthers our understanding of what shapes relations among actors, and accounts for how their interactions change in time and space. It contributes significantly to the literature on land grabbing by proposing a unified analytical tool that builds up on the relational perspective that has been proposed by different scholars. In addition, CAS allows researchers to overcome misleading categorisations and to question dominant narratives that have been associated with the land grabbing literature. This dissertation is divided into 9 chapters. After the usual literature review (Chapter 1), theoretical framework (Chapter 2) and method (Chapter 3) chapters, Chapter 4 gets into the crux of the matter by first briefly presents Tanzania’s historical trajectory, with a specific focus on land policies in order to introduce this thesis’s empirical chapters, and to situate the reader in regards to Tanzania politics. Chapter 5 analysed land policies and related politics at the national level. It highlighted that actors’ interactions in relation to new farmland investments participate to the process of state formation. Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 both adopted a local perspective to capture the impacts associated with new farmland investments in district political arenas. More specifically, chapter 6 highlighted the importance of not overstating the authority of the central state, rather insisting on the key role played by intermediaries in Rufiji district. Chapter 7, seeking to capture how a specific investment has restructured the local political agrarian economy in Missenyi district, argued that Kagera Sugar safeguards its operational profitability by creating locally mediated market relations. It led to the emergence of new local patrons who used their position to benefit and foster their own material interests at villagers’ expense. Chapter 8 adopted a micro perspective, examining the political dynamics associated with investors-related land conflicts in a village in Missenyi district. I compared and explained why actors’ interactions are different even in the same institutional context, highlighting that the same local context may produce different CASs. In sum, this dissertation’s main findings are as follow. First, investments’ local impacts are contingent on investments’ terms of inclusion and exclusion that are constantly being negotiated between numerous actors. Second, although all actors exert their agency, their very capacity to negotiate and shape the social structure is partly influenced by structural constraints themselves. Third, it is interesting to note that specific local actors—and not necessarily the most powerful—such as district officials win almost every time, at least more than all the others. Although their place in the institutional architecture is decisive, it also shows that their capacity and ability to exert their agency is crucial: these district officials may have known better than others how to play their cards in the new Tanzanian farmland investment game. Fourth, even though processes through which new farmland investments affect the local political economy vary according to structural components (historical and institutional legacies), in both districts, the associated local outcomes were very similar. There are few exceptions, but the general trend in Tanzania is that most of the benefits associated with new farmland investments, the commodification of land and the increase of capital flows, are captured by government officials and political elites.

A civilização minóica da Creta da Idade do Bronze foi uma das poucas civilizações européias a organizar a sociedade através de um sistema palacial. Os estudos sobre a formação dos estados minóicos devem analisar em profundidade o sistema administrativo palacial e as mudanças no mesmo ao longo de seus seis séculos de funcionamento - neste trabalho pretende-se analisar a evolução da complexidade das unidades sócio-políticas minóicas através da análise de suas formas administrativas. A definição de categorias de sítios administrativos - pela análise funcional dos vestígios arquiteturais e dos achados arqueológicos dos mesmos - e o estudo dos padrões hierárquicos entre os diversos sítios, serão o cerne do trabalho. O uso de metodologias apropriadas para a análise de processos de mudança e formação de instituições político-administrativas, como a Teoria de Sistemas e os conceitos de peer polity interaction de Colin Renfrew, serão as ferramentas básicas deste projeto. Esse trabalho é um desdobramento de pesquisa desenvolvida em Mestrado realizado no MAE/USP sobre as interações entre os estados primitivos de Creta e as práticas de culto minóicas. / The Minoan Civilization of the Bronze Age Crete was one of the few european civilizations that organized its society through a palatial system. The studies about the development of the Minoan States must analyse thoroughness the administrative palatial system and the changes that have occured on it during its six centuries of functioning. In this thesis we intend to analyse the complexity evolution of the Minoan polities through the analysis of its administrative configurations. The definition of administrative sites - through the function analysis of the architectural vestiges and of its archaeological discoveries - and the study of the hierarchic patterns among the sites, will be the main point of this research. The use of usefull methodologies for the analysis of early state formation and culture change, like systems theory and the concepts of peer polity interaction, will be the basis tools of this project. This research follows research developed in the mastership done in MAE/USP about the interaction between the early states of Crete and the Minoan ritual practices.

La relation des groupes armés non étatiques à l’Etat ne relève pas nécessairement d’une alternative exclusive entre l’affaiblissement étatique ou la délégation de la violence. Cette thèse prend comme objet la relation entre l’Etat et les groupes paramilitaires en Colombie afin d’étudier le lien entre la violence privée et la formation de l’Etat. L’histoire de ces groupes se caractérise à la fois par des alliances collusives avec des secteurs des élites politiques et administratives et par des processus de dénonciation qui rendent ces relations inavouables. Il s’agit donc d’une situation dans laquelle le pouvoir des armes échoue à se transformer en pouvoir légal. Une double perspective est mobilisée. Une première approche analyse le traitement des groupes paramilitaires par les institutions étatiques centrales, dans les termes d la politique de sécurité, de l’action judiciaire ou encore des politiques de sortie de conflit. Elle montre que ces groupes font l’objet d’une multiplicité de formes d’intervention étatique. Celles- ci ne peuvent se comprendre comme une forme univoque d’action publique, mais plutôt comme le signe de conflits intra-étatiques portant sur le contrôle et la régulation de la violence. Une seconde approche analyse l’action locale des groupes paramilitaires, à la fois dans leur intervention dans le jeu électoral, leur rôle d’entrepreneurs de violence, leur positionnement face aux guérillas et leur relation au marché. Elle montre que les groupes paramilitaires constituent des formes d’autorité locale. Loin de s’opposer à l’Etat, ils cherchent à tirer des bénéfices de leur position dans le maintien de l’ordre et l’exploitation des ressources. / The relation between non-state armed groups and the state should not be necessarily interpreted as a mutually exclusive alternative between state weakness and violence sub- contracting. This thesis mobilizes a research on the relations between the state and paramilitary groups in Colombia in order to analyse the link between private violence and state formation. The history of these groups is characterized by the existence of collusive alliances with sectors of the political and administrative elites, but also by forms of denunciation and disclosure that delegitimize these relations. This thesis examines a situation in which the power of weapons fails to turn into legal power. From a double perspective, it mobilizes the conceptual tools of the historical sociology of the state. A first approach analyses the treatment of paramilitary groups by central state institutions, in terms of security policies, judicial action or peace-building policies. It shows that these groups are subject to multiple modalities of state intervention. These cannot be understood as a univocal form of public action, but rather as a sign of intra- state disputes over the control and regulation of private violence. A second approach analyses the local action of paramilitary groups: their intervention in the electoral process, their role as violent entrepreneurs, their positioning relative to the guerrillas and their relation to the market It shows that paramilitary groups are forms of local authority; far from being opposed to the state, they seek instead to benefit from their position as key actors for resource extraction, as well as in the construction and maintenance of local orders.

This research employs a framework of social power, as coined by Michael Mann (1986; 1993), to understand the processes of state formation and development in Uganda. Using historical knowledge to understand the extent of social power relations in Ugandan society, the thesis assesses how these relations have shaped Ugandan state formation from the mid-1850s through to the present day. The research aims to bridge a gap between the discussions from African political theorists and historians and those of historical sociologists. It posits that state formation is a useful subject of study within the field of Development Studies, especially when it engages with historical empiricism. However, rather than providing a historically descriptive account of how the state formed, the research employs the theoretical framework of social power to guide the investigation of Ugandan state formation. Four units of analysis - ideological, political, military and economic sources of power form the basis of the approach. A historically and sociologically grounded analysis of the formation of the Ugandan state provides a contextually thick framework through which state development can be understood. By employing Mann's macro-historical sociological framework, this research aims to respond to calls not only for greater macro-theorisation, but also for history to be taken into account in development discourse. Unfortunately, the study of history and the use of historians' work is an investment of time which many development scholars struggle to afford There is an emerging critique that Development Studies scholars should not only acknowledge the historical processes underlying and framing their research, but that they should also actively engage with history to inform theoretical approaches to development. This thesis aims to demonstrate, from a historical sociology perspective, that history does matter for development and should, therefore, secure itself a place within the discipline, ensuring that Development Studies does include the study of social change in societies over long periods of time. Consequently, the analysis of this thesis argues that Mann's model of social power can cast light on development trajectories and specifically for the purpose of this study, on processes of state formation in Uganda.

O presente estudo procura analisar as transformações ocorridas nas instituições econômicas e na arrecadação tributária ao longo das primeiras décadas do século XIX, sobretudo entre 1808 e 1836. Primeiramente, tem-se em perspectiva as mudanças ocorridas nas principais instituições econômicas do período, a saber: o Banco do Brasil e o Tesouro Nacional. Procura-se, por meio da análise do funcionamento de ambas as instituições, verificar de que forma as principais questões financeiras do período financiamento do Estado, dívida pública, meio circulante, etc. estavam relacionadas com a formação da economia nacional bem como com a política econômica da época. Posteriormente, procura-se verificar o mesmo processo no tocante à arrecadação tributária, identificando de que forma a fiscalidade foi alterada no âmbito do Estado independente, bem como a introdução de novas formas de arrecadação tributária como no caso da Mesa das Diversas Rendas. Questões como a reforma das alfândegas, arrecadação dos impostos internos, definição da competência e dos espaços de tributação e da própria natureza da taxação são levantadas de forma a identificar a gênese do sistema tributário imperial, bem como quais interesses essas reformas representavam. Ainda sobre o sistema tributário, as transformações também são levadas em conta do ponto de vista das ideias e dos debates parlamentares com vias de identificar a forma pelas quais esses interesses fiscais manifestavam-se no Parlamento. Entre as principais conclusões alcançadas pelo estudo, destaca-se o caráter conflitivo e complexo de formação das instituições econômicas e do sistema tributário, bem como as diferentes opções que se apresentavam nos primeiros momentos de formação do Estado brasileiro. Assim, longe da formação econômica brasileira estar dada e seguir caminho inalterável e inevitável, as principais características sociais do sistema econômico, especialmente no que dizia respeito à fiscalidade regressividade e privilégios fiscais para as classes mais ricas foram opções conscientes dentre outras existentes na primeira metade do século XIX. / This study aims to analyze the economic institutions and tax system changes during the first decades in the Brazilians 19th century, especially between 1808 and 1836. Firstly, we have in perspective the transformation of the major economic institutions at that moment: the Brazilian Bank and the National Treasure. Our goal is to verify, through the operation of both institutions, how economic matters as the state financing, public debt and money supply , were related with the national economic formation and the imperial economic policy. After that, we try to verify the same process in the tax revenue system, identifying in what way the independent State changed the taxation, as well the introduction of new means to levy taxes the case of Mesa das Diversas Rendas. Issues as the custom and domestic tax reform, jurisdiction and tax spaces definition and the taxation essence itself was pointed in order to determine the genesis of the Brazilian imperial tax system, as well as which interests these reforms represented. Still, over the tax revenue system, the transformation are also analyzes together with the ideas and parliamentary discussions, seeking to describe how this fiscal interest was present in the congress. As the main conclusions achieved with this study, we can point out the conflicting and complex formation process of the economic institutions and Brazilian taxation system, as well the distinct options that materialized in the first moments of the Brazilian state formation. Thus, the Brazilian economic formation and main economic system social aspects, especially in the taxation (regressivity and fiscal privileges to the richer classes), were predetermined consciously during the first half of the 19th century.

Les nations indiennes du sud-est des États-Unis — les Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Séminoles et Cherokees — constituent une exception dans le paysage étatsunien du début du XlXème siècle, du fait de leur remarquable acculturation. Depuis l'ère coloniale, les Autochtones font le choix stratégique d'adopter certains traits culturels du colonisateur afin de s'imposer dans le dialogue économique et diplomatique avec ce dernier. Lorsqu'il met en place le programme de « civilisation », à un moment où l'assimilation des Indiens à la société américaine est envisagée, l'État fédéral s'appuie sur cet héritage de transformation culturelle. En prenant le concept de « mimétisme stratégique » comme point de départ, de façon à mettre en lumière le rôle des Indiens dans la redéfinition de leur propre identité, cette étude entend analyser la manière dont s'exprime l'agentivité des nations du Sud-Est dans la construction globale de la jeune république, en étudiant la place que prend cette stratégie d'imitation dans le rapport de force entre les nations indiennes et l'État fédéral, entre 1815 et 1861. Malgré les tensions internes impliquées par cette transition identitaire, il apparaît que les nations du Sud-Est se sont réinventées pendant la période, en adoptant notamment l'arsenal politique de création d'un État au sens large. Dans ce contexte, le déplacement vers l'Ouest imposé aux nations par AndrewJackson en 1830 semble impliquer un processus inédit. L'appropriation de la culture et des institutions états-uniennes fait que les nations participent à une certaine élaboration de l'Ouest, qui impose aux États-Unis de se poser la question de sa construction et de son expansion. / At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the southeastern Indian nations — the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles and Cherokees—were an exception in the American landscape because of their outstanding acculturation. Ever since the colonial era, the Indians strategically adapted their culture to that of the colonists so they could weigh in the economic and diplomatic interplay that took place between the two communities. When the federal government implemented the so-called "civilization" program, based on the idea that Indians could be integrated to American society, it relied on this long-standing cultural adaptation. Taking the notion of "strategic mimesis" as a starting point, in order to highlight the role played by the Indians themselves in redefining their own identity, this study aims at analyzing the agency of the southeastern Indians in the making of the early American republic. More specifically, the extent to which this strategic imitation developed by the Indians had an impact on the federal Indian policy between 1815 and 1861 is here discussed. Despite the tensions that appeared within the nations, due to this phenomenon of cultural transformation, it seems that the Indian nations reinvented themselves during the period studied here, in adopting a state-making institutional apparel. In this context, Indian removal, initiated by Andrew Jackson in 1830, implied an unprecedented process. While appropriating American culture and institutions, the relocated Indian nations also partook of the making of the West, and had the United States reflect on its very construction and expansion.