State-Building Interventions and Peace-building

Question 1

What is a government? What is a regime? What is a state?

Answer 1

• Govt - group with authority to govern a state
• Regime - often conflated with govt BUT a form of govt - can be authoritarian or democratic.
• State - formal institutions that regulate political action (bureaucracy, institutions, etc)

Question 2

What is juridicial statehood? What is empirical statehood? What examples are there of each?

Answer 2

Juridical - legal, recognised states
Empirical - reality on the ground: how much control do states have?

Distinction in the above - Somali state juridically existing continuously, but in 1991 was empirically failed.

ALSO - Northern Cyprus lacks official recognition, but exists empirically as a state.

Question 3

What is state weakness/failure/collapse?

Answer 3

• Weakness - inability to extend state control towards entire territory: delivery of state functions or just authority
• Failure - a descent into conflict… a failure of the control on the monopoly of force (Weberian Principle)
• Collapse - when institutions formally collapse and dissolve

Question 4

What is seen to ‘make’ a state a state?

Answer 4

Control of violence - an empirical definition, focussing on ability on the ground, on capability.
Tilly - ‘coercion-wielding organisations that are distinct from households and kinship groups and exercise clear priority in some respects over all other organisations within substantial territories’

Question 5

How can states be perceived as organised rackets?

Answer 5

States create threats that they claim to protect from - govts stimulating conditions for war in order to ensure compliance in racketeering fashion.
- STATE RACKETS LEGAL, ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS ARE NOT.

Question 6

What is the ‘bellicist’ theory of state formation?

Answer 6

A bellicist theory of state formation believes that states are formed through conflict between states. States are expanded, consolidated, destroyed and created through conflict.

Question 7

In the bellicist theory of state formation, what does this style of state formation revolve around?

Answer 7

Bellicist styles of state formation revolves around the buildup of coercive means and the concentration of violent means within the state. The state is entirely based on these two processes.

Question 8

Explain how the gaining of a monopoly over violence is a gradual process

Answer 8

The gaining of monopoly over violence revolves around the disarmament of a civilian population in steps - it sees local and regional power holders being disempowered, civilians prevented from holding arms, and a SIMULTANEOUS EXPANSION OF A STATE MILITARY.

Question 9

Explain how the process of war-making generated modern state apparatuses

Answer 9

In having a state army becoming a significant organisation, this requires maintenance through tax and taxation, bureaucracy, supplies, conscription, etc.

Question 10

How does the development of modern state apparatuses lead to a process of bargaining between the state and its citizens?

Answer 10

In placing enhanced demands on a population to support a state apparatus, this means that a state becomes dependent on its citizens and is vulnerable to popular resistance. As such, it is forced to respond to popular demands and bargain with/compensate its citizens.

Question 11

Explain how states have moved from being ‘wasps’ to ‘locomotives’

Answer 11

States used to ‘sting’ but not suck their citizens dry. Now, they have become increasingly extractive and are placing this burden on their citizens.

Question 11

Explain how a state’s essential activities used to revolve around security. What specific aspects of security?

Answer 11

• State-making: attacking and checking competitors and challengers within the territory claimed by the state;
• Warmaking: attacking rivals outside the territory already claimed by the state;
• Protection: attacking and checking rivals of the rulers’ principal allies, whether inside or outside the state’s claimed territory
• A crucial complement to this: Extraction: drawing from its subject population the means of state-making, warmaking and protection

Question 11

Explain how states have gradually ventured away from prioritising security into other fields? Which fields?

Answer 11

• Adjudication: authoritative settlement of disputes among members of the subject population;
• Production: control of the creation and transformation of goods and services by members of the subject population.
• Distribution: intervention in the allocation of goods among members of the subject population;

Question 11

Explain the process of state-building in Africa. How did this differ from European state-building?

Answer 11

African states are imported rather than organically grown - they are created colonially. They are also not built around geography or around nationality. They are not made through war, instead usually imposed through peace.

Question 11

How does Tilly’s thesis of interstate war creating states not tend to apply in Africa?

Answer 11

Tilly’s thesis focuses on interstate war forming states, but in Africa, many states are formed through intrastate conflict, internal struggles or negotiation with the metropole.

Question 11

Explain the non-territorial nature of power in African state-building. How does this differ from in Europe?

Answer 11

Africa: land in large supply, low population density; no need to wage wars to acquire land; people more valuable than land warfare was there but concerned acquisition of people and treasure, not land
Europe: war-making and state-making tied to territorial competition; land in short supply starting in 15th century

Question 12

Explain how the formation of African states has contributed to the nature of violence here. How does this differ from Europe?

Answer 12

In Africa, the formation of these states was imposed, creating fixed borders that have been respected since by other countries. However, internal conflicts dominate. Borders do not need to be defended as they were needed to be in Europe, instead internal security must be prioritised.

Question 13

What implications does the lack of external threat facing African states have for state weakness here?

Answer 13

• reduced incentive to expand infrastructure to the periphery
• Elites do not risk losing territory by not governing to its periphery - they will retain autonomy over periphery without external challenge.
• accountability implications as revenue from trade and aid makes governments less beholden to their citizenry

Question 14

What are ‘hinterland countries’?

Answer 14

Hinterland countries are those with high population density in small regions of a state, meaning that there is a focus on those small regions and a lack of authority over the majority of the state.

Question 15

What issues are there of representations of state weakness and failure?

Answer 15

• promotes harmful representation;
• obscures alternative forms of order;
• draws simplistic causal links between weakness/fragility and violence;

Question 16

What issues are there of Weberian ideas of statehood being applied to non-Western states?

Answer 16

A Weberian view of statehood is often used to justify intervention, to see particular states as deficient. It also cements Northern states as a dominant view, as an ideal state. It also obscures a colonial past and the role of colonising powers in creating instability.

Question 17

What are ‘parallel’ state structure?

Answer 17

Parallel state structures are those that exist alongside a legitimate state. They lack formal authority, for instance Kosovo.

Question 18

Does state weakness always lead to conflict?

Answer 18

State weakness doesn’t always lead to conflict - it is not an essential condition. Only a fraction of weak states see violent conflict, and strong, predatory states can often lead to civil war.

Question 19

Why do international state-building efforts often struggle to succeed?

Answer 19

• State-building coalitions often align with particular groups over others to sow seeds of discontent in new states
• lack of consideration of history and context when imposed externally
• lack of buy in/working with local groups
• role of local elites that reinforce own power

Question 20

Why did the reconstruction of Iraq after the 2003 invasion fail?

Answer 20

Iraq’s reconstruction failed as the invasion completely dismantled the existing state and imposed politicians lacking any legitimacy. It was a drastic failure of exogenous state-building. A security vacuum was created and armed groups swiftly took control.

Question 21

In what 2 ways can state-building fail?

Answer 21

1) fails to prevent a relapse into conflict;
2) can directly contribute to renewed conflict and violence.

Question 22

What contradiction is there within the processes of state-building and peace-building according to Balthasar?

Answer 22

Balthasar argued that the process of state-building is actively promoting of instability, and hence this is liable to create conflict and violence which will damage peace-building efforts.

Question 23

What issues are there of liberal pluralism as the hegemonic paradigm in state and peace-building efforts?

Answer 23

Liberal pluralism lacks effectiveness for state and peace-building. It tends to prioritise the imposition of particular styles of politicians and politics, with a lack of regard for local communities.

Question 24

What do Conversi and Levene argue is the significance of homogenisation in nation-building?

Answer 24

Conversi and Levene believe that homogenisation across ethnic and cultural values is essential to build a stable nation.

Question 25

How can war act to ‘standardise’ a nation according to Balthasar?

Answer 25

Acts of war can pull members of a national community together that it can create a uniform identity and a stable nation. It can create national belonging where there previously was none.

Question 26

What does Lottholz argue a misreading of Weber has led to among state-building efforts?

Answer 26

Lottholz believes that an excessive focus on a monopoly of force and violence for a state to be legitimate has resulted in a reduced significance for social unity in state-building efforts and literature.

Question 27

How do Neo-Weberian views of state-building view states without strong institutions?

Answer 27

Neo-Weberian views of state-building view states without strong institutions as being weak and prone to collapse in comparison with Western states with strong institutions.

Question 28

What does Engelbert believe are flawed assumptions about reconstruction efforts in Africa?

Answer 28

Engelbert believes it is wrong to assume that Western institutions can be transferred to Africa, that donors and elites share the same ambitions of reconstruction and that donors can’t access the resources needed for successful reconstruction.

Question 29

How can elites often disrupt a reconstruction effort?

Answer 29

Elites can be known to disrupt reconstruction efforts through the diversion of funds and use of influence to serve their own desires and ambitions, rather than to benefit reconstruction.

Question 30

What problems have there been with efforts to establish democracy in African states undergoing reconstruction?

Answer 30

Efforts to establish democracy in African states undergoing reconstruction have been flawed given that it has been difficult to establish stable yet accountable governments. As a result, it has often been the case that authoritarian, semi-democratic states emerge that abuse human rights.