Nations Without States: Class, Society and Geography in the World-System

By Sam Parry

Offers a structural, long-term reinterpretation of Wales within the capitalist world-system.

Nations without States compares Wales' development with Catalonia, the Mezzogiorno, and Padania to show how internal differentiation emerges within modern states. Rejecting methodological nationalism, it examines how Wales was shaped by conquest, administrative centralization, resource extraction, dependency, and uneven development across centuries. By placing Wales in direct comparison with other stateless or structurally distinct regions, the book reveals how political tensions and cultural resilience reflect deeper world-systemic roles rather than anomalies of identity or local history. It traces how state formation, economic functions, regional power, and global cycles have produced divergent outcomes that persist into the present. Through an integrated analysis of political economy, territorial governance, and historical sociology, the book demonstrates that Wales's structural position--and those of comparative regions--reflects systemic imperatives that continue to shape autonomy debates, economic stagnation, and the contradictions of modern statehood.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1837724059
• ISBN13: 9781837724055
• Release Date: January 2027
• Publisher: University of Wales Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.