2 Garen Karapetian 2004 The State of the Spectacle: A Post-Anarchist Investigation Of The Problem Of State Reification Department of International Politics Aberystwyth University of Wales, Aberystwyth 334 State, Reification, Post-anarchism, Poststructuralism, State theory, IR theory, Cultural theory <p>  The State is simultaneously a key concept in a variety of social sciences, and an ultimately ambiguous and abstract &quot;entity&quot;.  In State-theories, Statist discourses and representations the State already pre-exists the practices of its theorising and representation, while there is quite a degree of ambivalence and difficulty with regards to what the State itself is.  In effect, those very theories and representations end up <em>reifying</em> that very &quot;State&quot;, which they attempt to understand and unmask.  In political and international theory we still need to cut off the King's head.  The problem of reification of the State, thus, becomes the nucleus of this investigation.  In a journey though classical anarchism, and works of Max Stirner and Guy Debord, this thesis unpacks the problem of State reification.  It demonstrates that apart from expressing a theoretical and discursive difficulty, the problem of State reification is complexly interwoven with cultural and psychological processes involved in identity formation, alienating dynamics of theological politics and conditions of existence within societies of the spectacle.  The recurrent aporias associated with the existence of the State bring the investigation to the final analysis where it becomes clear that spectacular configuration of sovereignty draws its convincing power not so much from the discourses of social contract and the divinity of the sovereign, but in reference to the established and untraceable knowledge that &quot;there is a State&quot;.  Sovereignty is, therefore, a derivative of a more profound problem of State reification.         </p> <p style="text-align: justify" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Garamond"><span>     </span></span> </p>

This is my PhD thesis, which was submitted and defended in 2004. This work is not published as a book.  The attachment is a single PDF document.  Feel free to download and read it.  Needless to say, the ideas are mine, unless stated otherwise.  All right reserved.  And all quoting, paraphrasing or referring to my thesis should be accompanied by proper referencing and/or footnotes as appropriate in such cases.