Joel S Migdal

My interests include theories of state-society relations and Middle East politics, especially those involving Palestinians and Israelis. I will be working on an historical book about the creation of the public in the U.S., once it had become, in the nineteenth century, an urbanized 'society of strangers'. I look at the rules for everyday interaction and ask how and why they became cross-cutting, who benefited from them, and who was disadvantaged by them. The book will pay particular attention to the Civil War and World War II in redefining the American public.