P. Christiaan Klieger
anthropologist
anthropologist
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing and Lexington Books
Order at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739174265
Order at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739174265
Latest Book (Dec. 2012)
The
seven microstates of Europe, i.e. Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco,
Malta, San Marino, Sovereign Order of St. John, and Vatican City are
remarkable not only for their size, but their persistence. Most have
been around for centuries, while much larger empires have come and gone.
Despite the great events of the last two millennia, these countries
have come into existence and have managed to steer a course away from
incorporation within their larger neighbors. Why is this? Rather than
being an exercise in triviality, the study in The Microstates of Europe: Designer Nations in a Post-Modern World
of the histories of these tiny states may provide insight into
tenaciousness of national aspirations and ethnic solidarity that are
everywhere evident. Modernist studies tend to view the microstates as
illogical anomalies destined to disappear under the crush of social
progress. However, these states are anything but marginal—in fact, they
are among the richest states in the world. This book examines the
phenomenon from structural history and anthropological perspectives. It
is not a grand history of petite places—rather, it is an “ethnographic
anthology” of a few places in Europe that should not logically exist. The Microstates of Europe
is a post-modern critique of the trends of globalism, and it examines
the counter-trend of increasing nationalism, particularism, and cultural
relativism. Rather than being eclectic exceptions, the microstates may
demonstrate the survival of extremely long enduring mechanisms of
collective boundary maintenance that are most likely present in many
communities throughout the world.
