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Cited by 149Globalization and political ideologiesPolitical Science Research and EducationEconomic Theory and Institutions

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 118 of the 122 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Why We Need a New Theory of Government

Levi, Margaret·2006·Perspectives on Politics
DOI 10.1017/s1537592706060038
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Abstract

In the 1970s I was among a group of scholars endlessly debating theories of the state. Others in the discussion were my recent predecessor as APSA President, Theda Skocpol, and my immediate successor, Ira Katznelson. What intrigued us was a vast literature, grounded in neo-Marxism and covering huge swaths of history and geography. Nearly all the important books and articles were by sociologists and historians, but with Structure and Change in Economic History, my then-colleague, economist Douglass North, transformed the debate by using economic models of transaction costs and property rights to model the state's role in economic prosperity over time. Most political scientists now acknowledge the importance of this perspective, but it nonetheless helped precipitate twenty years of divergence between historical and new economic institutionalists.Margaret Levi is Jere L. Bacharach Professor of International Studies in the Department of Political Science, University of Washington, Seattle (mlevi@u.washington.edu). Among her books are the single-authored Consent, Dissent and Patriotism (1997) and Of Rule and Revenue (1988) and the co-authored Cooperation Without Trust? (2005) and Analytic Narratives (1998). Many people offered me comments. I did not always take their advice, but I am grateful to Amit Ahuja, Paloma Aquilar, Marcelo Bergman, Maureen Eger, Ann Gryzmala-Busse, Bea Kelleigh, Bob Kaplan, Edgar Kiser, Victor Lapuente-Giné, Michael Lipsky, Kenneth Kollman, José-Maria Maravall, Peter May, Leonardo Morlino, Steve Pfaff, Kate Pflaumer, Frances Fox Piven, Christoph Pohlmann, Nancy Rosenblum, Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, Bo Rothstein, Susan Stokes, Katherine Stovel, Joan Tronto, and Ashutosh Varshney. My greatest debt is to the two graduate students who read and commented on several drafts as well as located the materials I needed to write this presentation: John Ahlquist and Audrey Sacks.

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Citations

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Show all 122 references

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. Przeworski, 2004, Political Economist, 12, 1
  2. 10.2307/2585925 · DOI
  3. Acemoglou, 2005, Political Economist, 12, 4
  4. Weingast, 1995, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 7, 1
  5. Block, 1977, Socialist Revolution, 33, 6

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Metadata

Authors
Levi, M.
Affiliations
University of Washington (US)
Corresponding author
Levi, Margaret
ORCID
Levi, Margaret
Venue
Perspectives on Politics
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
2006-02-24
Volume
4
Issue
01
ISSN
  • 1537-5927 (ISSN-L)
  • 1541-0986
DOI
10.1017/s1537592706060038
OpenAlex
W2004769985
Cited by
149
References
122
Citations by year
2026: 20 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 8
FWCI
40.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Perspectives on Politics (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Globalization and political ideologies
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Science Research and Education
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Economic Theory and Institutions
Keywords
state theory, neo-Marxism, historical institutionalism, transaction costs, property rights, Douglass North, Theda Skocpol

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