Rehearsing the State (eBook)

Fiona McConnell is Associate Professor in Human Geography at the University of Oxford. She is co-editor of Geographies of Peace (2014) and Diplomatic Cultures and International Politics forthcoming), and sits on the Board of Directors of the Tibet Justice Centre.

List of Figures viii

Series Editors' Preface ix

Acknowledgements x

Note on Transliteration xiii

1 Introduction 1

2 Rethinking the (Non)state: Time / Space / Performance 17

3 Setting the Scene: Contested Narratives of Tibetan Statehood 40

4 Rehearsal Spaces: Material and Symbolic Roles of Exile Tibetan Settlements 61

5 Playwright and Cast: Crafting Legitimacy in Exile 92

6 Scripting the State: Constructing a Population, Welfare State and Citizenship in Exile 116

7 Audiences of Statecraft: Negotiating Hospitality and Performing Diplomacy 145

8 Conclusion: Rehearsing Stateness 171

References 190

Index 216

'This is much more than yet another account of controversy about Tibet's status. By looking in from the 'margins' of the state system Rehearsing the State offers a brilliant illumination of sovereignty everywhere.'

James D Sidaway, Professor of Political Geography, National University of Singapore



'This fascinating book provides both an in-depth account of the workings of the Tibetan government in exile and a new way of thinking about the state and stateness. Drawing on dramaturgical ideas of performance, rehearsal and play, Fiona McConnell unsettles established understandings of the relationships between state, sovereignty and territory. In the process she not only reveals much about the political geographies of the Tibetan diaspora, but also shows how an apparently marginal geopolitical phenomenon can shed new light on questions of government, citizenship and political authority.'

Joe Painter, Professor of Geography, University of Durham, UK