ABSTRACT
Nationalism is frequently explained in terms of macro-structural causes. Ernest Gellner, Anthony Smith and others have debated its relationship to modernity and to pre-modern structures. A version of that historical transformation, developed by Gellner protégés such as Michael Mann, as well as by Charles Tilly and others, may be called the theory of state penetration into society. I would put it in Weberian terms: patrimonial structures based on alliances among armed households were displaced by bureaucratic organization of the state, beginning with a permanent military and its centralized logistics, generating an expanded apparatus of tax extraction and the penetration of state agencies and laws that bring individuals into direct relation with the state.
