Politics of the State Concepts

Likely written response questions

Attributes of the state (9)- Crawford Young

1. Government: institutions of rule

2. Territory: land enclosed within boundaries

3. Population: inhabitants within territory

4. Sovereignty: internationally recognized territory

5. Power: capacity to exercise authority

6. Law: codified standing commands

7. Nation: people as collectivity

8. International actor: membership in global community

9. Idea: Images, norms, expectations in social imagery.

Legacies of colonialism (Thomson)

• Modern states

• Arbitrary borders

• Reinforcing the non-hegemonic state

• weak links between state and civil society

• The formation of state elites

• Economic inheritance

• Weak political institutions

Features of state centralization

• concentration of power in the executive

• “co-equal” branches stripped of autonomy and capacity

• political mobilization through one official party

• absence of competitive elections

• civil society excluded from state decision making

• limited respect for human rights

• strong security laws and frequent use of coercion

• state plays dominant role in economy

• legitimacy generated by clientelism

The reasons for the loss of state authority and legitimacy in post-1970s

Crisis of Legitimacy

Crisis of Accumulation: the failure to create wealth through the productive investment of surplus capital.

• import substitution

• high tax on agricultural sector

Crisis of Governance: the failure of states to provide political structures able to represent civil society.

• patronage over long-term investment

• bloated bureaucracies

• pervasive corruption

• no constitutional avenues for regime change

Imperatives of the State (6)- Crawford Young

• Hegemony: monopoly of legitimate coercion

• Autonomy: minimizing external, internal constraints

• Security: protection from external, internal threat

• Legitimation: rightfulness of rule

• Revenue: resources for exercise of rule

• Accumulation: expanding economy

rationale for centralization

• promotes unity

• widespread popular support

• no legacy of multiparty politics

• promotes economic development and national unity

consequences of centralization

• reduced links between state and civil society

• promoted political instability

• failed to mobilize the public and aggregate interests

• no systems of checks and balances

• ineffective, unaccountable, unrepresentative governance

Responses to State Failure- Civil Society

Civil society disengagement

• Emigration

• Informal economy

• Tax shirking

• Ignoring state laws

Insurgency

• E.g. Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda

Responses to State Failure: State

Re-legitimization of the state: multi-party elections

State inversion:

• Limits activities to those that enhance elite interests

• Downgrading client/patron networks

Exploring parallel markets: state officials attempt to benefit from the informal economy.

The ‘Warlord State’

• no representation or public service provision

• Coercive resources used to protect strategic industries.

features of neopatrimonialism

• executive control over state institutions

• Corruption and patronage-based governance

• Coercion and clientelism

• Personal rule

• Limited political accountability