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Brandan O’Leary sets up a framework for a broad theory of right‐sizing the state. He addresses the distinctiveness of modern state borders, the centrality of nationality and ethnicity that makes public officials concerned with ‘right‐peopling’ their states, and territorial expansion, maintenance and contraction, which oblige public officials to consider ‘right‐sizing’. His theory builds on Ernest Gellner's theory of nationalism and Ian Lustick's theory of state expansion and contraction. The author also classifies different strategies of eliminating and managing ethnic differences and existing borders.

This chapter examines the reorganization of the federal judiciary from the beginning of Thomas Jefferson's second term as president in 1805 until just prior to the Compromise of 1850. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the government faced a new set of challenges, many of which were the result of the vast territorial expansion. Territorial expansion and the politics of statehood admission intertwined with judicial reform attempts focused primarily on arranging states in circuits and ensuring regional geographic representation on the Supreme Court. The chapter considers the four stages in which the history of judicial institution building unfolded in the eras of Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy: the Judiciary Act of 1807, the stalemate over the National Republicans' attempts to extend the circuit system to the West in the mid-1820s, the Whigs' failed consolidation plan of 1835, and the triumph of reform in the Judiciary Act of 1837.

The historiography of the second British Empire of the period 1783–1860 was already in vigorous debate at the very time when that the Empire was being established. From the American Revolution onwards, writers of histories began to take up a number of broad positions on this phase of British territorial expansion that set the terms of debate for the next century. The overlapping traditions in writing on the British Empire persisted into the later 19th century, but a distinct set of themes began to emerge from about 1880 and held sway until the First World War. The historical interpretations during 1950–80, specifically the motive force of British expansion, are discussed. Moreover, the historical interpretations in the 1980s and 1990s are explored. Some Imperial historians, especially in Britain, have deplored what they see as the politicization of Imperial history by issues of gender, race, and ‘post-coloniality’. While the naiveté of some of this work deserves their disparagement, this chapter has argued that Imperial history has always been intensely political.

This introductory chapter gives a brief outline of the chronology and significance of the reign of Basil II to Byzantine political, diplomatic, and military history. It summarizes the territorial expansion of the Byzantine empire in the period, contrasting this success with the revolts that Basil faced in the early part of his reign from Bardas Skleros and Bardas Phokas. It shows how the emperor's wars and conquests contributed to his nickname, Bulgarslayer. The introduction goes on to explain the methodological problems associated with piecing together the history of Basil's reign. It outlines the way in which this particular study of Basil II will be underpinned by a very close examination of the Byzantine historiography of the 10th and 11th centuries.

This book examines the imperial aspirations and geographic expansion of the United States over the long nineteenth century, with emphasis on the process of state formation and political development. It analyzes the concerns and actions of federal policy makers in promoting the formation of national borders through territorial expansion, as well as the ultimate settlement and incorporation of lands on the frontier. In particular, it considers how federal land policies were used to regulate population movements across the territory. The book argues that the building of an American empire was a project of population control and settlement, aided primarily by land policy. This chapter provides an overview of the contested and multifaceted nature of American expansion, how this expansionist project relates to race and state formation, and the politics of population control. It also presents a summary of the chapters that follow.

This chapter focuses on Ireland in the 1650s, illustrating England's new commitment to brute force (expressed through a new standing army and expanded navy) and to forced migration around the Atlantic as a strategy for colonial success and national power. This imperial reshuffling of people linked Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, and North America, and exposed the government's new vision of a more centralized empire devised in the wake of several decades of private enterprise.

This chapter examines the process of American territorial expansion and settlement to the Mississippi River between the American Revolution (and even further back into British times) up until 1840. During the course of this settlement, the thirteen seaside states increased to twenty-six. This was a time when the federal government first asserted authority over the public land. The chapter first considers how early statesmen asserted sovereignty over Native Americans before discussing the issue of boundary lines between the federal government and the Indians, how the government mobilized populations for compact settlement in strategically important areas of the frontier, and how the government assumed a monopoly over the public domain and used its authority to restrain population movements. It shows that federal land policies were used by national officials to avoid being stretched too thin while maintaining strength through compactness.

In the years between 1760 and 1815, a disparate group of Imperial territories, ultimately to be known as British North America, was acquired by conquest, established through settlement, and exploited for its supplies of fish and furs. For most of this period, the parts were united by no more than their exclusion, or escape, from incorporation into the United States. The American Revolution had discredited ambitious Imperial policies. British intentions for North America were now limited to the need to find ways of generating sufficient material wealth while avoiding the example of the thirteen colonies. The European conflict, relations with the United States, and the internal politics of the colonies dominated the development of British North America between 1791 and 1815. Their effect was to encourage social and economic expansion, but not to bring about unity. In general, the achievements of British North America between 1760 and 1815 were real. There had been extensive territorial expansion. In terms of Imperial policy, the remaining British possessions in North America had been governed largely by default.

The introduction locates the significance of the rapid development of federal government capacity in the context of American territorial expansion. As a result of this state capacity the United Statesacquired a hegemonic position on the North American Continent.

This chapter studies the Louisiana Purchase and its connection to the expedition of Lewis and Clark. It shows that Thomas Jefferson's assumption of broad powers to buy the million-mile landmass was a violation of explicit constitutional limits. Still, Jefferson went ahead with the purchase, and the consequences of that action are studied carefully in this chapter. The chapter also considers several important questions about the legality of territorial expansion and slavery. A discussion of the expedition's explicit objectives notes the disturbing legacies that it has left behind.

This chapter discusses the tension between French intelligence and the Nazi Machtergreifung. Intelligence observers predicted that the new regime was made in order to come up with a policy of massive rearmament and territorial expansion. Meanwhile, Military attaché General Renondeau in Berlin said that the evolution of a Hitlerian dictatorship would have a big effect on the political fabric of Germany, on Franco-German relations and on international politics. He added that if Hitler becomes Chancellor, Germany will become one big military barracks. These warnings were repeated and intensified after the Machtergreifung.

This chapter focuses on the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century, as the nation began to think of an overseas empire with the potential of going beyond the settler model. It first considers the views of Frederick Jackson Turner with regard to the closing of the frontier, as well as those of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and others who saw this moment as a transition from a settler nation to an empire more similar to those of Europe. This first step at a new empire was largely a failure as national legislators were reluctant to add nonwhite territories in any form. Indeed, Hawai'i is the one territory that eventually joined the United States during this time as a state. The chapter highlights a profound contradiction that Americans have never fully come to terms with: how to proceed with territorial expansion and endorse liberal ideals while maintaining a white settler nation.

This chapter suggests that terraced fields were an important site of Inca rituals that linked corn, chicha, and the Inca elite to the productive cycle. It also reviews a means to archaeologically study the use of terraces in feasts. Viewing Inca agricultural terraces as monumental landscapes, this chapter then examines how certain terraces featured prominently in important state activities and reinforced Inca social hierarchies, gender roles, and state territorial expansion. In addition, it is shown that chicha provides a fundamental link between the earthly process of food production, the Inca sociopolitical order, and the requirements of divine beings as conceptualized in Inca telluric cosmology. This outlook presents an opportunity for the further development of landscape approaches in the Andes through focused fieldwork in field systems, which will provide a more nuanced appreciation of pre-Columbian behavior.

This chapter discusses the reign of Askia Muḥammad. Originally affixed to clerical and commercial interests, the askia's arrogation of power would encourage a review of those relations, leading to a series of challenges to Timbuktu and Jenne's self-promotion as bastions of autonomy and self-regulation. The askia's policies are therefore not unlike those of Mansā Mūsā, who paired internationalism with indigenization. These challenges would endure throughout Songhay's existence, and require rethinking Timbuktu exceptionality. Notwithstanding difficulties, Songhay's cosmopolitanism reached a height of sophistication never before witnessed in the region. More specifically, it is with Songhay that a variety of ethnicities undergo a process through which their allegiance to the state begins to supersede group loyalties, resulting in the formation of a new political identity. As an experiment in pluralism, it was unprecedented. Like Mansā Mūsā, Askia Muḥammad would also embark upon a campaign of significant territorial expansion, extending well into the northern Sahel, while evincing substantial interest in the Hausa city-states to the east. Notwithstanding his accomplishments, Songhay would be slowly circumscribed by breathtaking transformations on a global scale.

The Introduction sets out the methodological approach of the book: it draws upon a tradition of regional historical studies, much indebted to economic and historical geography, to investigate the reasons why and methods whereby cities in an urban belt of central Europe constructed landed territories. It is not concerned to trace the political, juridical, and cultural achievements of medieval city‐states, especially those in Italy. The study is firmly comparative, but does not presume that a single archetype of the medieval city‐state existed. Constraints of space prevent detailed treatment of regional economic systems, a topic on which much research remains to be undertaken. The book is divided into broad chronological chapters spanning around 150 years, the last of which examines thematically the capacity of city‐states to survive by transformation and adaption.