At the base of the modern state there is the professor, not the executioner… for the monopoly of legitimate education is more important than the monopoly of legitimate violence.
Nurit Peled-Elhanan, reported here
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At the base of the modern state there is the professor, not the executioner… for the monopoly of legitimate education is more important than the monopoly of legitimate violence.
Nurit Peled-Elhanan, reported here
One reply on “Quote #277”
I like your blog! Fascinating point here. I was testing this position in my mind and thinking about my country (Holland) during the second world war. Germany occupied Holland and they certainly controlled ‘legitimate’ violence. They did not – to the same extent at least – control education. I guess gaining control over education is a slower process, since you cannot directly use military force to do it. Of course they did control education to some extent too, mostly by appointing people who sympathised with them. Anyway, here the state was changing, but in area #1 (monopoly of legitimate violence) much more than in area #2 (monopoly of legitimate education). And yet the Germans held a tight grip on Holland for 5 years and if it had not been for England and the US, we probably would be speaking German today….. Somehow this seems to contradict Peled-Elhanan’s position. I don’t know. Maybe I am missing something. These are pretty broad generalizations anyway….