What is Neo-Weberian institutionalism / definition of state building
- Focuses on state capacity, institutions, and the monopoly of violence as central to state-building.
- Tends to overlook historical and cultural contexts, reducing the legitimacy of institutional performance
- Western way of state building often leads to empty-shells
What is Charles Tilly’s theory on state-building?
Tilly’s bellicist theory states that “war made the state and the state made war,” emphasising the role of warfare in shaping state structures through centralising violence and building administrative capacity
In Tilly’s concept of the transformation of European States, what is meant by ‘wasps’ and ‘locomotives’?
wasps: smaller, less centralised entities
locomotives: larger, centralised power
What are Charles Tilly’s four essential activities of state-building?
- State-making: Eliminating internal challengers to control the territory.
- War-making: Engaging in external conflicts to defend or expand the state.
- Protection: Safeguarding allies and ensuring their loyalty.
- Extraction: Collecting resources (e.g., taxes) to fund the above activities.
What are the four further steps of state’s expansion into the society?
- Adjudication
- Production
- Distribution
- Bargaining
what’s the difference between European and African’s state-building?
European state building was through warfare, African’s state-building was through peaceful colonisation
What is Frederick Cooper’s concept of Gatekeeper state (Africa’s weakness as a gatekeeper state)
State relied on controlling access to resources from external trade and aid rather than developing a broad economic base.
What challenges do African states face in state-building compared to European states?
- African states were imported through colonization, lacking organic development like in Europe.
- Territorial control was less critical due to abundant land and low population density.
- States rely on external aid and trade (“gatekeeper state”), reducing internal governance accountability
what is Hinterland countries
landlocked countries like Mali and Chad
what type of state is Somaliland considered
De facto state - an emipirical statehood but lacks international recognition
what is a security vacuum
when government loses control over a region
What is Dodge’s argument about Iraq’s exogenous state-building?
- External powers attempted to build state capacity by working with selected local allies.
- This approach often alienates other segments of the population, undermining the legitimacy of the reconstructed state.
What is Balthasar’s (2017) critiques of state-building?
- Rule standardisation: does not apply to local contexts
- The contradiction between peace-building and state-building
What is the main critique of state-building interventions, as discussed by Lottholz & Lemay-Hebert (2016)?
- Interventions often create “empty shells,” where state institutions meet international standards but lack legitimacy or accountability to local populations.
How did state-building differ in Somalia’s regions of Somaliland and Puntland?
- Somaliland: Declared independence in 1991 and operates as a de facto state without international recognition.
- Puntland: Declared autonomy in 1998 but remains part of Somalia, focusing on self-governance.
What role did war play in European state-building, according to Tilly?
War led to the centralisation of violence, the formation of military and administrative institutions, and the establishment of mechanisms like taxation to sustain state functions.
What are the key weaknesses of African state-building?
- Weak governance and infrastructure in peripheral areas.
- Lack og government incentive
- Over-reliance on external trade and aid revenues.
- Limited incentives for internal taxation or accountability.
Why did international state-building efforts in Iraq fail to establish stability?
- Quick regime change without reconstruction.
- Creation of a power vacuum, enabling armed groups.
- Reliance on external powers that alienated sections of the population.
What is the contradiction between peace-building and state-building
- peace-building focuses on creating non-violent coexistence despite differences
- state-building: emphasises rule standardisation, institutional unification, and seeks homogeneity
Two things that state-building often fails to do are:
- prevent a relapse into conflict
- avoid contributing to renewed violence and instability
