Lecture 2 State and State-building (2)
Page 1
Comparative Politics: State-Building Interventions & Peacebuilding
Instructor: Dr. Andrea Purdeková
Contact: a.purdekoya@bath.ac.uk
Location: 1WN 4.02a
Page 2: Key Questions
Core Questions:
What is the link between war, peace, and state formation?
What defines a state, and how does it differ from other political organizations?
How do the state formations in Europe compare to those in Africa?
What is the 'bellicist' theory of state formation? How robust is it?
Does state weakness lead to conflict, and does state-building foster peace?
What are critiques of international state-building and reconstruction efforts?
Page 3: Core Concepts
Analytical Distinctions:
Government vs. regime vs. state
Juridical statehood vs. empirical statehood
Concepts of state weakness, failure, and collapse
Page 4: What is a State?
Contested Concept:
Structure, actor, or set of ideas?
Instrument of government or entity with autonomous power? (Mann's theory)
Boundary between state and society is fluid; termed ‘state effects’ (Mitchell)
Core functions: security, governance, and service provision.
Page 5: Characteristics of a State
Definition by Max Weber:
A "human community that claims the monopoly of legitimate violence within a territory."
Page 6: Characteristics of a State
Definition by Charles Tilly:
States as coercion-wielding organizations distinct from households and kinship groups.
They exercise priority over other organizations in defined territories.
Page 7: Security and Governance
Dual Nature of Security:
Security can be comforting or ominous (Tilly).
Tilly views the state as an organized security racket, claiming to provide protection while often creating threats.
Page 8: State-Building in Europe
Bellicist Theory (Tilly):
"War made the state, and the state made war."
Major mobilizations for war from AD 990 led to state expansion and organization.
The process involved building up coercive means and concentrating violence within state structures.
Page 9: European State-Building Process
Gaining Monopoly Over Violence:
Achieved gradually through disarmament of civilians.
War-making contributed to the creation of state structures, including military and taxation systems.
Increased accountability to popular demands leads to bargaining.
Page 10: European State Functions
Essential Activities of States:
Security: internal and external defense;
War-making: confronting rivals;
Protection: safeguarding allies;
Extraction: collecting resources from the population.
Page 11: Expanding State Roles
Activities Beyond Security:
Adjudication: Resolving disputes within the population.
Production: Managing goods and services.
Distribution: Allocating resources.
Bargaining: Negotiating rights and freedoms with the populace.
Page 12: State-Building in Africa
Key Differences:
Modern states imported rather than organically grown.
Different political geography and peaceful post-colonial state adoption.
Implications for state functionality and development.
Page 13: Nature of Power in Africa
Non-Territorial Power Dynamics:
Unlike Europe, land was plentiful; no need for warfare over land.
Focus on capturing people and resources; power extended over less densely populated areas.
Page 14: Stability of African Boundaries
Independence Implications:
Post-independence boundaries respected, fostering a collaborative order (Herbst).
In contrast to European state-making history linked to warfare.
Page 15: State Weakness in Africa
Factors Influencing Weakness:
Lack of external threats reduces defense incentives.
Limited taxation capabilities; low economic base translates to weak governance.
Elites may not risk territorial loss through inadequate governance.
Page 16: Geography and Governance Challenges
Diversity in Management:
Difficult terrains like the DRC as 'rimland' states complicate governance.
Variability in governance challenges, though geography is not destiny.
Page 17: Issues in State Weakness Discourse
Critiques on State Weakness Narratives:
Promotes harmful representations of governance.
Oversimplifies complex political orders and contexts.
Links between state weakness and violence are not straightforward.
Page 18: Harmful Representations
Consequences of Weakness Discourse:
Reinforces Northern dominance and historical amnesia.
Positions certain state models as universal, legitimizing foreign intervention.
Page 19: Obscured Forms of Order
New Perspectives:
Focus on alternative states and hybridity rather than simply 'fragile' states.
Recognizing how order manifests in diverse contexts.
Page 20: Case of Somalia
Empirical Statehood in Somaliland:
Declared independence in 1991 but lacks international recognition.
Puntland declared independence in 1998 amid ongoing disputes.
Page 21: Afghanistan’s Informal Governance
Self-Governing Organizations:
Rural governance relies on customary systems providing public goods.
Traditional order does not hinder state development.
Page 22: Parallel States and Rebel Governance
Kosovo Case Study:
Examination of conflict and parallel state structures.
Inquiry into how conflict may enhance forms of governance.
Page 23: States in Exile
Rwandan and Sahrawi Cases:
Rwandan Hutu camps (1994-1996) and Sahrawi camps in Algeria as illustrative examples of state structures in exile.
Page 24: Weakness and Conflict Relationship
Complex Causation:
State weakness does not uniformly lead to violence; only a subset of weak states experience civil conflict.
Requires extensive understanding of various contributing factors to state fragility.
Page 25: International State-Building Challenges
Post-Conflict Reconstruction Complex:
Billions spent on state-building; many conflicts revert to violence despite external aid.
Questions arise on the causes of limited success in state-building initiatives.
Page 26: Iraq Case Study
2003 Invasion Aftermath:
Initial quick regime change followed by insecurity and the rise of armed groups.
Marked as exogenous state-building where external powers shape state capacity.
Page 27: DRC's State-Building Challenges
Protracted Conflicts:
Ongoing violence complicates state-building responses.
Local competing forms of order compromise legitimate governance and state function.
Page 28: Somalia's Failed State Recovery
International Attempts:
Ongoing distrust in central government hampers rebuilding efforts.
Somalia's Al-Shabaab remains a significant ongoing threat.
Page 29: South Sudan’s Independence and Challenges
Newest Independent State:
Major civil war leading to independence in 2011; subsequent descent into conflict in 2013.
Various infrastructural and unification challenges hinder state-building.
Page 30: Broader Critiques of State-Building
Tensions in Approaches:
Conflicts between peace-building and state-making can lead to harmful outcomes.
Focuses too much on institutional capacity at the cost of public legitimacy and accountability.
Page 31: Legitimacy of Intervention
State-Building as Interventionism:
Examining whether state-building equates to neo-imperialism.
UK’s historical parallels with the US state-building experiences in the Middle East.
Failures in preventing conflict recurrence and creation of ineffective state structures.