Impotence and Intransigence
State Behavior in the Throes of Deepening Global Crisis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12063000 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yuwa Wong (Horizon Health Network, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 3-14 |
| Publication date | 1994-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Politics and the Life Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0730-9384 • E-ISSN: 1471-5457 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0730938400022097 |
| OpenAlex | W2586792838 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 62 |
This article approaches the current global environmental crisis from an evolutionary perspective. It identifies two features in contemporary states' behavior: impotence and intransigence in the face of global crisis. These traits stem from humanity's evolutionary past, in which groups had to maintain their integrity while surviving intergroup competition. Contemporary sovereign states are groups that have survived this process, and they guard their sovereignty vigilantly. They do so by instituting coercive measures on the one hand and cultivating members' loyalty on the other. A belief of common descent must be articulated successfully in order for members to feel group solidarity. Hence, states are intransigent in maintaining that they truly represent the welfare of their members. To the extent that states are successful in inculcating a belief of common descent and identity, they are also constrained in acting altruistically—hence, their impotence in the face of deepening global crisis. To find a way out of this dilemma, strategic alternatives are explored. The emerging role of nongovernment organizations, with certain caveats, is seen as promising
Development economics · Dilemma · Economics · Face (sociological concept · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Security Dilemma · Social science · Sociology · Solidarity · Sovereign state · Sovereignty · State (computer science · Economic Theory and Institutions · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Law · World Systems and Global Transformations
Political anthropology.
Government violence and repression
Taking Lives (Third Edition)
Global environmental change
Despotism, Social Evolution, and Differential Reproduction
Governing the Commons
The Evolution of Altruistic Behavior
The genetical evolution of social behaviour. II
Energy and Structure
The Africans
Oriental Despotism
Making the commons work
Darwinism and human affairs
Genocide
Structural conflict
Population growth
A Theory of the Origin of the State
Political Domination in Africa
War and Change in World Politics
The Nature of Politics
The Role of Kin Recognition Mechanisms in Patriotic Socialization
Patriotism
Kin Selection, Socialization, and Patriotism
The politics of government-NGO relations in Africa
Genetic seeds of warfare
An independent Namibia? The future facing SWAPO
Ethnic revival
A nation is a nation, is a state, is an ethnic group is a
Biology and Bureaucracy
The Pathology of Power
Ethnic Groups and the State
Political theory and international relations
Achieving Cooperation under Anarchy
Why Africa's Weak States Persist
Rise and Demise of the Territorial State
State Functions and the Future of the State
Recent Trends of the Nation-State in Contemporary Latin America
Statism, Rationality, and State Centrism
State Disintegration and Urban-Based Revolutionary Crisis
War, Revolution, and the Growth of the Coercive State
Identifying the Elements of State Power
The Nuclear Arms Race
Beyond the State
The Birth and Death of Taxes
War and the Birth of the Nation State
The Paradoxical Nature of State Making
Post-Communist Nationalism
War Making and State Making
From Max Weber
The Pursuit of Power
The origins of nations
The myth of the 'modern nation' and the myths of nations
The Long Cycle of Global Politics and the Nation-State
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,17 |
| Citation span | 1997 - 2003 (7) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |