6. Policial institutions: state capacity, nation and state building

Question 1

state capture

Answer 1

idea that in an autocratic regime there is often an overlap between state, regime, and government

Question 2

how states developed

Answer 2

1. from hunter-gatherers, to herders, to agriculture (settling).
2. agriculture enabled city-states, empires, and nation-states
3. as humans shifted from nomadic ways of living to settling, territorial forms of political organisation developed

Question 3

modern european states

(vroeger)

Answer 3

1. modern because there is more centralisation of power and institutions that govern a large part of territory
2. “war built the state”, kings engaged in wars which required money, they did this through taxes. this required bureaucrats and a police force.
3. institutions for taxation became the first state institution

1. state-building is rarely peaceful.
2. nation-states are a relatively recent phenomenon, states are much older.

Question 4

colonisation and state-building

Answer 4

1. modern state spread to european settler colonies only
2. when decolonisation happened, these state structures were left behind
3. important to make distinction between two waves of decolonisation
4. early decolonisation in latin america early 1800s: haiti independence triggered independence movements all over, spanish empire was weak so there was an opportunity
5. late decolonisation in africa and asia: after ww2, they had to fight in the war and wanted independence in return for it. started with india and others followed
6. colonisation has had important consequences for state structures, even after decolonisation

left behind a lot of different social groups in a state, which made state-building afterwards very difficult

Question 5

nation-states

Answer 5

1. recent idea that the boundaries of the state should also include a common nation.
2. older empires didn’t have a problem with multiple groups in one nation, so it’s more of an old european idea
3. creating cohesion between people vs suppressing regional identities?

Question 6

nations

Answer 6

1. a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a state or territory.
2. they do a claim to statehood or self-rule, they do not necessarily have their own state
3. they have aspirations for self-government and sovereignty

Question 7

ethnic groups

Answer 7

1. a community or population made up of people who share a common cultural background or descent
2. they don’t have to have a nation or necessarily want to be a nation

Question 8

imagined communities

Answer 8

1. nations are imagined communities, creating an identity and a sense of belonging to a political community
2. state trying to create a common identity to create a stable state

Question 9

nationalism

Answer 9

1. early on it was an ideology of liberation and a unifying force: ataturk in turkey creating story on who the turkish are and unifying them to leave the ottoman empire
2. in europe earlier used as a unification program to create political communities: france.
3. key question for democracy: who is part of the demos? who do we consider legitimate others, or legitimate co-citizens?

Question 10

how do social structures affect democratisation

Answer 10

1. social structures can be economic classes, ethnic, linguistic, and religious hetereogeneity.
2. affects democratisation in that hetereogeneity is less stable to rule over.
3. it’s harder to stabilise because they might contest other groups coming into power
4. there are also peaceful nations with different social groups, so they can form alliances to push for democratisation (or autocratisation)
5. can also create conflict and instability, resource differential, identity bias, and mobilisation.

Question 11

ways of dealing with different social groups

Answer 11

1. equal rights
2. political influence
3. minimise resource differential
4. create common identity
5. find ways to share power

core idea is that when countries become independent, you need to establish the boundaries of the state and who belongs to the demos. otherwise democratisation is more difficult.

Question 12

state capacity

Answer 12

1. the capability to rule a state, the ability of state institutions to effectively implement official goals
2. there are strong and weak states

Question 13

state autonomy

Answer 13

1. capacity of a state to make its own decisions
2. a state can be strong but not autonomous or weak but autonomous

Question 14

three types of state capacity

Answer 14

1. coercive capacity: states’ capacity to maintain their monopoly and deliver a minimum level of security for citizens
2. administrative capacity: states’ capacity to implement policies and deliver basic public services
3. extractive capacity: states’ capacity to generate resources

extractive capacity important for sustaining both coercive and administrative capacity

Question 15

how does state capacity affect democratisation?

Answer 15

1. regime neutral stabiliser
2. with strong state capacity autocracies can provide security to keep citizens happy which can stabilise the regime. they can monitor citizens, oppress people, and get rid of opposition
3. can stabilise democracy because with strong institutions you can provide better public services and security
4. weak state capacity in autocracies can make it more difficult to control the citizens rising up against you, which destabilises the regime
5. weak state capacity in democracies can make citizens unhappy and make them want to go back to autocracy

Question 16

state-first argument

fukuyama

Answer 16

1. we need to have a strong state capacity before democratisation can happen
2. you shouldn’t force democracy onto a country, because this can lead to violence
3. but investing in a strong state can also empower the authoritarian regime, and you can’t deny the population an election if they want this

fukuyama baseert zijn idee op de eerste wave van democratisation, de history van europa. we hebben dit model alleen zien werken in zuid korea en taiwan. er is geen reden om als autocratisch land met een sterke state capacity te gaan democratiseren.

Question 17

sequencing idea in democratisation

Answer 17

1. first state development and then democracy
2. following a certain path, needing certain preconditions
3. there is a risk of only focusing on one thing and strenghtening the authoritarian regime

preconditionalist

Question 18

gradualism idea in democratisation

Answer 18

1. building democracy slowly
2. building state capacity and democratisation at the same time

universalist

Question 19

how can state capacity sustain authoritarianism

Answer 19

1. by providing public services
2. oppression
3. clientelism
4. corruption
5. electoral fraud

clientelism = public support in exchange for goods/services

Question 20

how can state capacity sustain democracy

Answer 20

1. providing public services
2. makes challenges to the system more difficult
3. can enable clientelism depending on how corrupt the country is

Question 21

paradox of state capacity

Answer 21

1. weak state capacity makes transition more likely and stabilisation less likely
2. strong state capacity makes transition less likely and stabilisation more likely