State-Building
Encyclopedia
State-building is a term used in state theory. It describes the construction of a functioning state. This concept was first used in connection to the creation of states in Western Europe and focused on the power enforcement of state in society (Tilly 1975).
Tilly (1975: 70f.) described the advantages of state building in Europe as follows:
The second strand of theory and definitions gained momentum following the signing in 2007 of an international accord between donor nations on their work in conflict affected and weak states. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/61/45/38368714.pdf This accord committed richer countries to consider supporting `state-building' as their `central objective' in conflict affected countries. The result has been a steady stream of new work commissioned by donor countries on definitions, knowledge and practice in state-building, much of this co-ordinated by a Task Team of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This work has tended to draw heavily on political science. It has produced definitions that view state-building as an indigenous, national process driven by state-society relations. This `endogenous' view believes that countries cannot do state-building outside their own borders, they can only influence, support or hinder such processes. Illustrations of this approach include a think-piece commissioned for OECD http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/59/51/41100930.pdf and a research study produced by the Overseas Development Institute.
In 2008 the British Government's Department for International Development released a Working Paper on state-building that helped bring together new thinking in this field and became synonymous with the endogenous viewpont. It drew heavily on the more recent studies, and also on views of a panel of academic experts http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/Expert-feedback.pdf. The paper moved the debate forward by offering models of how indegenous state-building dynamics may work in practice (the Whaites model). The paper argues that state-building is primarily a `political' process rather than just a question of technical capacity enhancements. It sees state-building as involving a threefold dynamic of: political (usually elite) deals, the prioritization of core government functions and the willingness to respond to public expectations. (see also Political settlement
)
Across the two streams of theory and writing there is a broader consensus that lessons on how to support state-building processes have not yet been fully learnt. Some believe that supporting state-building requires the fostering of legitimate and sustainable state institutions, but many accept that strategies to achieve this have not yet been fully developed. Little of the post-conflict support to state-building undertaken so far has been entirely successful. From an exogenous perspective it can be argued that sustained focus on supporting state-building has tended to happen in states frequently characterized by brutalized civilian populations, destroyed economies, institutions, infrastructure, and environments, widely accessible small arms, large numbers of disgruntled soldiers to be demobilized and reintegrated, and ethnically or religiously divided peoples. These obstacles are compounded by the fundamental difficulty of grafting democratic and human rights values onto countries with different political, cultural, and religious heritages.
Both schools of thinking have generated critiques and studies seeking to test the propositions made. The endogenous model, with its emphasis on composite state-building processes, would have major implications for donor programmes, diplomacy and peace-keeping. As a result the OECD has sponsored research to test some of the ideas involved and DFID followed its original working paper by issuing a guidance note for its own programmes. Important critiques were developed by NGOs such as Conciliation Resources and The Asia Foundation, focused primarily on Whaites proposition that a `political settlement' drives state-building. There have also been attempts to test out the thesis by looking at individual areas of state provision, particularly the area of healthcare.
While approaches such as the Whaites model (DFID) have tried to argue that state-building takes place in all countries and that much can be learnt from successful state-building there is a tendency to narrow the discussion to the most problematic contexts. As a result much of the literature on state-building is preoccupied with post conflict issues. See e.g. (Dahrendorf, 2003), (The Commission on Post-Conflict Reconstruction, 2003), (Collier, 2003) (Fukuyama, 2004), (Paris, 2004), (Samuels 2005). Critiques common to both schools include inadequate strategy and a lack of coordination, staffing weaknesses, and that funding is insufficient or poorly timed. Moreover, it is increasingly recognized that many of the tasks sought to be achieved are extremely complex and there is little clarity on how to best proceed. For instance, it is extremely difficult to provide security in a conflictual environment, or to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate armies successfully. It remains practically impossible to address vast unemployment in states where the economy is destroyed and there is high illiteracy, or to strengthen the rule of law in a society where it has collapsed. Moreover, the unintended negative consequences of international aid are more and more evident. These range from distortion of the economy to skewing relationship of accountability by the political elite towards internationals rather than domestic population.
The first `exogenous' approach to State-building, (an activity by external actors/countries), is perhaps the more controversial of the two strands of thinking. It is viewed as having overtones of imperialism and colonialism, whereby local populations view the foreign power as an oppressor attempting to impose a foreign system and culture. In this sense, critics argue that wars could even be lengthened to cause additional damage to the adversary's infrastructure. By doing so, critics contend, economic opportunities emerge. Examples of such occurrences put forward by proponents of such a theory include the rebuilding of Germany
in the aftermath of World War II
via the Marshall Plan
, the rebuilding of Japan
following the United States' fire-bombing campaign, and more recently, the use of private corporations.
The second `endogenous' strand of thinking (an indigenous process of state-society relations) has less interventionist overtones and makes clear that national leadership and vision is centrally important. It does, however, potentially leave a gap in terms of strategies for the international community to support positive state-building processes in poor, post-conflict and weak states. More work is needed to convert the ideas and models of the second strand of thinking into clear policies to help conflict affected states.
' usually has a quite distinct meaning, defined as the process of encouraging a sense of national identity within a given group of people, a definition that relates more to socialisation than state capacity (see the ODI, OECD, and DFID reports cited above).
Similarly, state-building (nation-building) has at times been conflated with military intervention or regime change (again often in the American context). This derives in part from the military actions in Germany and Japan in World War II and resulting states, and became especially prevalent following the military interventions in Afghanistan (October 2001) and Iraq (March 2003). However, the conflation of these two concepts has been highly controversial, and has been used by opposing ideological and political forces to attempt to justify, or reject as an illegal military occupation, the actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hence, regime change by outside intervention should be differentiated from state-building.
For the purposes of state-building in environments of instability, the sub-structures of states can be defined as a political regime (or system of government), a governance framework (or constitution), and a set of state institutions (or organizations) such as the armed forces, the parliament, and the justice system. State capacity refers to the strength and capability of the state institutions. Nation conventionally refers to the population itself, as united by identity, history, culture and language.
, New Public Management
, and Decentralization
.
is a very broadly used term for successful ways a government can create public institutions that protect people’s rights. There has been a shift in good governance ideals, and as Kahn states, “The dominant ‘good governance’ paradigm identifies a series of capabilities that, it argues are necessary governance capabilities for a market-friendly state. These include, in particular, the capabilities to protect stable property rights, enforce the rule of law, effectively implement anti-corruption policies and achieve government accountability.”
This good governance paradigm is a market enhancing process which emerged in the 1990s. This approach involves enforcing the rule of law, creating stronger property rights, and reducing corruption. By focusing on improving these three traits, a country can improve its market efficiency. There is a theoretical cycle of market failure which explains how a lack of property rights and strong corruption, among other problems, leads to market failure:
1.The cycle starts with economic stagnation, which can enhance and expose the inefficiencies of a weak government and rule of law that cannot effectively respond to the problem.
2.Because a government is unaccountable or weak, small interest groups can use the government for their specific interests, resulting in rent seeking and corruption.
3.Corruption and rent seeking from interest groups will lead to weak property rights that prevent citizens and smaller businesses from the assurance that their property is safe under national law. Also the corruption will result in welfare-reducing interventions.
4.These weak property rights and welfare-reducing interventions lead to high transaction cost markets.
5.High transaction cost markets lead back to economic stagnation.
While it is understood that improving rule of law and reducing corruption are important methods to increasing the stability and legitimacy of a government, it is not certain whether or not this approach is a good basis for a state building approach. Researchers have looked at this approach by measuring property rights, regulatory quality, corruption, and voice and accountability. There was little correlation found between increasing property rights and growth rates per capita GDP.
approach first emerged in New Zealand and the United Kingdom in the 1980s. New Public management uses market like reforms within the public sector to provide the government with the necessary power to implement a development plan on the economy while also using competitive market based techniques to enhance public sector production. In this approach the government provides performance based contracts to private organizations to conduct work within an industry. This has the upsides of creating a more competitive industry while still keeping it under government control, which can create a more efficient industry and government spending. One of the downsides is in the case of a weak government. If a strong private corporation takes over the interests of the industry, the growth of the industry could be threatened at the hands of the private interests of the corporation. Also see Examples of State Building, Singapore for examples.
is beneficial because “It seeks to reduce rent-seeking behavior and inefficient resource allocation associated with centralized power by dispersing such power to lower levels of government, where the poor are likely to exercise influence and a variety of actors may participate in the provision of services.”.
A Potential problem with over-decentralization is inefficient resource distribution due to inability to coordinate local governments. Also if the civil service sector becomes too large, it will decrease its quality and hurt the government’s capacities. .
2010- Following the 2010 earthquake, Haiti has been a popular philanthropic cause. The United Nations member states have pledged $5.3 billion over the 18 months following the earthquake. There are over 3000 Non Governmental Organizations operation in Haiti. This is beneficial for short term recovery, but many worry that with declining media will also come declining philanthropic donations to a country which some have called a “republic of NGO’s.” The government is working to organize the enormous amount of aid coming to the state into a long term effort organized by the government A new study submitted by the RAND Corporation shows the findings of researchers who discuss what is necessary for this long term investment.
The researchers cite some important initiatives that need to be taken in the rebuilding process:
1. Providing stability through a strong judicial system that protects the rights of the people, and a strong police force to enforce the law.
2. Transparent administration. This can be done by clearly defining procedures for administration officials, giving performance incentives, and giving specific job descriptions. This will remove any vague government official positions and hold people accountable for the state, promoting efficiency in the government.
3. Removal of rubble in the capital of Port-au-Prince to restore national pride in the country.
4. Eliminate the inefficiencies in registering for businesses and property to promote business formation and a stable system of property ownership.
5. In the education and health sector, have the government provide contracts to the many NGOs currently working in Haiti. This will not only utilize the NGO’s resources, but will allow the government control over the process, creating a coordinated process of development.
South Korea has reformed in a way that has opened their economy to foreign investors, and has become an export oriented economy. They are now a leader in the automobile and most recently, high tech industries. South Korea has achieved this economic growht by allowing liberalization of their economy, while keeping control of their central banks. This allows them control over which industries and corporations get certain loans. This control has provided the South Korean government with control over the direction of the economy, while also allowing it to expand under liberal economic policies.
South Korea is not a mineral rich country, and does not have significant natural resources they can use to build their economy. Also, South Korea, while using a more free market, still kept a concerted plan for the nation’s growth and kept control of the central bank to help guide the plan.
Since 1989, Singapore has carried out managerial reforms known as Public Service for the 21st Century which uses its public administration system, known for its meritocracy, high status and professional ethics, to create a system of public management. The most of the civil service is now run by executive agencies.
Tilly (1975: 70f.) described the advantages of state building in Europe as follows:
"State building provided for the emergence of specialized personnel, control over consolidated territory, loyalty, and durability, permanent institutions with a centralized and autonomous state that held the monopoly of violence over a given population".
Definition
There are two main theoretical approaches to definitions of state-building. First, state-building is seen by some theorists as an activity undertaken by external actors (foreign countries) attempting to build, or re-build, the institutions of a weaker, post-conflict or failing state. This `exogenous' school views state-building as the activity of one country in relation to another, usually following some form of intervention (such as a UN peacekeeping operation). A view that has featured in media debates on Iraq and Afghanistan and has influenced documents such as the UN report:“A more secure world: Our shared responsibility” Report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change A/59/565, or the Rand Corporations's Beginners Guide to Nation Building (see a discussion of nation building vs state-building). http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2007/RAND_MG557.pdfThe second strand of theory and definitions gained momentum following the signing in 2007 of an international accord between donor nations on their work in conflict affected and weak states. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/61/45/38368714.pdf This accord committed richer countries to consider supporting `state-building' as their `central objective' in conflict affected countries. The result has been a steady stream of new work commissioned by donor countries on definitions, knowledge and practice in state-building, much of this co-ordinated by a Task Team of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This work has tended to draw heavily on political science. It has produced definitions that view state-building as an indigenous, national process driven by state-society relations. This `endogenous' view believes that countries cannot do state-building outside their own borders, they can only influence, support or hinder such processes. Illustrations of this approach include a think-piece commissioned for OECD http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/59/51/41100930.pdf and a research study produced by the Overseas Development Institute.
In 2008 the British Government's Department for International Development released a Working Paper on state-building that helped bring together new thinking in this field and became synonymous with the endogenous viewpont. It drew heavily on the more recent studies, and also on views of a panel of academic experts http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/Expert-feedback.pdf. The paper moved the debate forward by offering models of how indegenous state-building dynamics may work in practice (the Whaites model). The paper argues that state-building is primarily a `political' process rather than just a question of technical capacity enhancements. It sees state-building as involving a threefold dynamic of: political (usually elite) deals, the prioritization of core government functions and the willingness to respond to public expectations. (see also Political settlement
Political settlement
Political settlement is a concept in political theory linked to elite theory, states, and state-building. Joel Migdal has suggested that the concept of political settlements has a pedigree going back to the work of Barrington Moore. Political settlements are the frameworks for governing a state...
)
Across the two streams of theory and writing there is a broader consensus that lessons on how to support state-building processes have not yet been fully learnt. Some believe that supporting state-building requires the fostering of legitimate and sustainable state institutions, but many accept that strategies to achieve this have not yet been fully developed. Little of the post-conflict support to state-building undertaken so far has been entirely successful. From an exogenous perspective it can be argued that sustained focus on supporting state-building has tended to happen in states frequently characterized by brutalized civilian populations, destroyed economies, institutions, infrastructure, and environments, widely accessible small arms, large numbers of disgruntled soldiers to be demobilized and reintegrated, and ethnically or religiously divided peoples. These obstacles are compounded by the fundamental difficulty of grafting democratic and human rights values onto countries with different political, cultural, and religious heritages.
Both schools of thinking have generated critiques and studies seeking to test the propositions made. The endogenous model, with its emphasis on composite state-building processes, would have major implications for donor programmes, diplomacy and peace-keeping. As a result the OECD has sponsored research to test some of the ideas involved and DFID followed its original working paper by issuing a guidance note for its own programmes. Important critiques were developed by NGOs such as Conciliation Resources and The Asia Foundation, focused primarily on Whaites proposition that a `political settlement' drives state-building. There have also been attempts to test out the thesis by looking at individual areas of state provision, particularly the area of healthcare.
While approaches such as the Whaites model (DFID) have tried to argue that state-building takes place in all countries and that much can be learnt from successful state-building there is a tendency to narrow the discussion to the most problematic contexts. As a result much of the literature on state-building is preoccupied with post conflict issues. See e.g. (Dahrendorf, 2003), (The Commission on Post-Conflict Reconstruction, 2003), (Collier, 2003) (Fukuyama, 2004), (Paris, 2004), (Samuels 2005). Critiques common to both schools include inadequate strategy and a lack of coordination, staffing weaknesses, and that funding is insufficient or poorly timed. Moreover, it is increasingly recognized that many of the tasks sought to be achieved are extremely complex and there is little clarity on how to best proceed. For instance, it is extremely difficult to provide security in a conflictual environment, or to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate armies successfully. It remains practically impossible to address vast unemployment in states where the economy is destroyed and there is high illiteracy, or to strengthen the rule of law in a society where it has collapsed. Moreover, the unintended negative consequences of international aid are more and more evident. These range from distortion of the economy to skewing relationship of accountability by the political elite towards internationals rather than domestic population.
The first `exogenous' approach to State-building, (an activity by external actors/countries), is perhaps the more controversial of the two strands of thinking. It is viewed as having overtones of imperialism and colonialism, whereby local populations view the foreign power as an oppressor attempting to impose a foreign system and culture. In this sense, critics argue that wars could even be lengthened to cause additional damage to the adversary's infrastructure. By doing so, critics contend, economic opportunities emerge. Examples of such occurrences put forward by proponents of such a theory include the rebuilding of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in the aftermath of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
via the Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the large-scale American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to combat the spread of Soviet communism. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948...
, the rebuilding of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
following the United States' fire-bombing campaign, and more recently, the use of private corporations.
The second `endogenous' strand of thinking (an indigenous process of state-society relations) has less interventionist overtones and makes clear that national leadership and vision is centrally important. It does, however, potentially leave a gap in terms of strategies for the international community to support positive state-building processes in poor, post-conflict and weak states. More work is needed to convert the ideas and models of the second strand of thinking into clear policies to help conflict affected states.
Differentiating "nation-building", military intervention, regime change
In the American context, some commentators use the term "nation-building" interchangeably with "state-building" (e.g. Rand report on America's role in nation-building). However in both major schools of theory the state is the focus of thinking rather than the "nation" (nation conventionally refers to the population itself, as united by identity history, culture and language). The issues debated related to the structures of the state (and its relationship to society) and as result state-building is the more broadly accepted term. In political science 'nation-buildingNation-building
For nation-building in the sense of enhancing the capacity of state institutions, building state-society relations, and also external interventions see State-building....
' usually has a quite distinct meaning, defined as the process of encouraging a sense of national identity within a given group of people, a definition that relates more to socialisation than state capacity (see the ODI, OECD, and DFID reports cited above).
Similarly, state-building (nation-building) has at times been conflated with military intervention or regime change (again often in the American context). This derives in part from the military actions in Germany and Japan in World War II and resulting states, and became especially prevalent following the military interventions in Afghanistan (October 2001) and Iraq (March 2003). However, the conflation of these two concepts has been highly controversial, and has been used by opposing ideological and political forces to attempt to justify, or reject as an illegal military occupation, the actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hence, regime change by outside intervention should be differentiated from state-building.
Peace Building versus State Building
State building may not always automatically lead to peace building and due to state building's inherently political nature, it may in fact spark off further conflict. Efforts to "appease" or 'buy off' certain interest groups in the interest of peace may undermine state-building exercises, as may power sharing exercises that may engender a political settlement, but not effective state institutions. Sometimes peace-building efforts bypass the state in an effort bring peace and development more quickly, for example, it was found that many NGOs in the Democratic Republic of Congo were building schools without involving the state. The state also may be part of the problem and over-reliance on the state by international actors can worsen security inside the country.State structures within the concept of state-building
The term "state" can be used to mean both a geographic sovereign political entity with a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with the other states, as defined under international law (Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, December 26, 1933, Article 1), as well as a set of social institutions claiming a monopoly of the legitimate use of force within a given territory (Max Weber, 1919).For the purposes of state-building in environments of instability, the sub-structures of states can be defined as a political regime (or system of government), a governance framework (or constitution), and a set of state institutions (or organizations) such as the armed forces, the parliament, and the justice system. State capacity refers to the strength and capability of the state institutions. Nation conventionally refers to the population itself, as united by identity, history, culture and language.
Approaches to State Building
While many specific techniques exist for creating a successful state building strategy, three specific approaches have been identified by the recent 2010 UNRISD report. These three approaches would all fall under the endogenous school of thinking, and are: Good GovernanceGood governance
Good governance is an indeterminate term used in development literature to describe how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources in order to guarantee the realization of human rights. Governance describes "the process of decision-making and the process by which...
, New Public Management
New Public Management
New public management is a management philosophy used by governments since the 1980s to modernise the public sector. New public management is a broad and very complex term used to describe the wave of public sector reforms throughout the world since the 1980s...
, and Decentralization
Decentralization
__FORCETOC__Decentralization or decentralisation is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizens. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy,...
.
Good Governance
Good governanceGood governance
Good governance is an indeterminate term used in development literature to describe how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources in order to guarantee the realization of human rights. Governance describes "the process of decision-making and the process by which...
is a very broadly used term for successful ways a government can create public institutions that protect people’s rights. There has been a shift in good governance ideals, and as Kahn states, “The dominant ‘good governance’ paradigm identifies a series of capabilities that, it argues are necessary governance capabilities for a market-friendly state. These include, in particular, the capabilities to protect stable property rights, enforce the rule of law, effectively implement anti-corruption policies and achieve government accountability.”
This good governance paradigm is a market enhancing process which emerged in the 1990s. This approach involves enforcing the rule of law, creating stronger property rights, and reducing corruption. By focusing on improving these three traits, a country can improve its market efficiency. There is a theoretical cycle of market failure which explains how a lack of property rights and strong corruption, among other problems, leads to market failure:
1.The cycle starts with economic stagnation, which can enhance and expose the inefficiencies of a weak government and rule of law that cannot effectively respond to the problem.
2.Because a government is unaccountable or weak, small interest groups can use the government for their specific interests, resulting in rent seeking and corruption.
3.Corruption and rent seeking from interest groups will lead to weak property rights that prevent citizens and smaller businesses from the assurance that their property is safe under national law. Also the corruption will result in welfare-reducing interventions.
4.These weak property rights and welfare-reducing interventions lead to high transaction cost markets.
5.High transaction cost markets lead back to economic stagnation.
While it is understood that improving rule of law and reducing corruption are important methods to increasing the stability and legitimacy of a government, it is not certain whether or not this approach is a good basis for a state building approach. Researchers have looked at this approach by measuring property rights, regulatory quality, corruption, and voice and accountability. There was little correlation found between increasing property rights and growth rates per capita GDP.
New Public Management
New Public ManagementNew Public Management
New public management is a management philosophy used by governments since the 1980s to modernise the public sector. New public management is a broad and very complex term used to describe the wave of public sector reforms throughout the world since the 1980s...
approach first emerged in New Zealand and the United Kingdom in the 1980s. New Public management uses market like reforms within the public sector to provide the government with the necessary power to implement a development plan on the economy while also using competitive market based techniques to enhance public sector production. In this approach the government provides performance based contracts to private organizations to conduct work within an industry. This has the upsides of creating a more competitive industry while still keeping it under government control, which can create a more efficient industry and government spending. One of the downsides is in the case of a weak government. If a strong private corporation takes over the interests of the industry, the growth of the industry could be threatened at the hands of the private interests of the corporation. Also see Examples of State Building, Singapore for examples.
Decentralization
In reference to state building approaches decentralizationDecentralization
__FORCETOC__Decentralization or decentralisation is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizens. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy,...
is beneficial because “It seeks to reduce rent-seeking behavior and inefficient resource allocation associated with centralized power by dispersing such power to lower levels of government, where the poor are likely to exercise influence and a variety of actors may participate in the provision of services.”.
A Potential problem with over-decentralization is inefficient resource distribution due to inability to coordinate local governments. Also if the civil service sector becomes too large, it will decrease its quality and hurt the government’s capacities. .
Examples of state-building
- HaitiHaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
- 1995
2010- Following the 2010 earthquake, Haiti has been a popular philanthropic cause. The United Nations member states have pledged $5.3 billion over the 18 months following the earthquake. There are over 3000 Non Governmental Organizations operation in Haiti. This is beneficial for short term recovery, but many worry that with declining media will also come declining philanthropic donations to a country which some have called a “republic of NGO’s.” The government is working to organize the enormous amount of aid coming to the state into a long term effort organized by the government A new study submitted by the RAND Corporation shows the findings of researchers who discuss what is necessary for this long term investment.
The researchers cite some important initiatives that need to be taken in the rebuilding process:
1. Providing stability through a strong judicial system that protects the rights of the people, and a strong police force to enforce the law.
2. Transparent administration. This can be done by clearly defining procedures for administration officials, giving performance incentives, and giving specific job descriptions. This will remove any vague government official positions and hold people accountable for the state, promoting efficiency in the government.
3. Removal of rubble in the capital of Port-au-Prince to restore national pride in the country.
4. Eliminate the inefficiencies in registering for businesses and property to promote business formation and a stable system of property ownership.
5. In the education and health sector, have the government provide contracts to the many NGOs currently working in Haiti. This will not only utilize the NGO’s resources, but will allow the government control over the process, creating a coordinated process of development.
- AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
- 2001–present - IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
- 2003–present - GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
- 1945-1989 - JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
- Post World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... - Republic of MacedoniaRepublic of MacedoniaMacedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
- 1991–present - Bosnia - 1995–present
- KosovoKosovoKosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
- 1999–present - South KoreaSouth KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
- 1972–present
South Korea has reformed in a way that has opened their economy to foreign investors, and has become an export oriented economy. They are now a leader in the automobile and most recently, high tech industries. South Korea has achieved this economic growht by allowing liberalization of their economy, while keeping control of their central banks. This allows them control over which industries and corporations get certain loans. This control has provided the South Korean government with control over the direction of the economy, while also allowing it to expand under liberal economic policies.
South Korea is not a mineral rich country, and does not have significant natural resources they can use to build their economy. Also, South Korea, while using a more free market, still kept a concerted plan for the nation’s growth and kept control of the central bank to help guide the plan.
- SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
- 1989–present
Since 1989, Singapore has carried out managerial reforms known as Public Service for the 21st Century which uses its public administration system, known for its meritocracy, high status and professional ethics, to create a system of public management. The most of the civil service is now run by executive agencies.
See also
- Constitutional economicsConstitutional economicsConstitutional economics is a research program in economics and constitutionalism that has been described as extending beyond the definition of 'the economic analysis of constitutional law' in explaining the choice "of alternative sets of legal-institutional-constitutional rules that constrain the...
- Political economyPolitical economyPolitical economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
- Rule according to higher lawRule according to higher lawThe rule according to a higher law means that no written law may be enforced by the government unless it conforms with certain unwritten, universal principles of fairness, morality, and justice...
- Nation-buildingNation-buildingFor nation-building in the sense of enhancing the capacity of state institutions, building state-society relations, and also external interventions see State-building....
- Regime changeRegime change"Regime change" is the replacement of one regime with another. Use of the term dates to at least 1925.Regime change can occur through conquest by a foreign power, revolution, coup d'état or reconstruction following the failure of a state...
- The White Man's BurdenThe White Man's Burden"The White Man's Burden" is a poem by the English poet Rudyard Kipling. It was originally published in the popular magazine McClure's in 1899, with the subtitle The United States and the Philippine Islands...
- Disaster capitalism
- Political settlementPolitical settlementPolitical settlement is a concept in political theory linked to elite theory, states, and state-building. Joel Migdal has suggested that the concept of political settlements has a pedigree going back to the work of Barrington Moore. Political settlements are the frameworks for governing a state...
- Sovereign stateSovereign stateA sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
- State (polity)State (polity)A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
Literature
- Almond, Gabriel: The Return to the State in: American Political Science Review, Vol. 82, No. 3, 853–874, 1988.
- Bastian, S. and Luckham, R. ) In Can Democracy Be Designed? : The Politics of Institutional Choice in Conflict-Torn Societies (Ed, Luckham, R.) Zed, London Collier, P., 2003.
- Caplan, Richard, International Governance of War-torn Territories: Rule and Reconstruction, Oxford: OUP, 2005.
- Chandler, D. Empire in Denial: The Politics of State-building. Pluto Press, 2006.
- Chesterman, SimonSimon ChestermanSimon Chesterman is Vice Dean and law professor at the National University of Singapore, and "Global Professor and Director" of the Singaporean branch of the NYU School of Law. His research concerns international law, conceptions of public authority, state-building and post-conflict reconstruction...
: You, The People: The United Nations, Transitional Administration, and State-Building. Oxford University Press, 2004. - Collier, Paul Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy OUP, Oxford, 2003.
- The Commission on Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Play to Win, Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Association of the U.S. Army, Washington DC, 2003.
- Covey, Dziedzic, et al. (eds.) The Quest for Viable Peace: International Intervention and Strategies for Conflict Transformation, USIP Press, Washington DC, 2005.
- Dahrendorf, N. (Ed.) A Review of Peace Operations: A Case for Change, King's College, London, 2003.
- Fukuyama, FrancisFrancis FukuyamaYoshihiro Francis Fukuyama is an American political scientist, political economist, and author. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford. Before that he served as a professor and director of the International Development program at the School of...
: State Building. Governance and World Order in the Twenty-First Century, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2004a, ISBN 0-8014-4292-3 - Fukuyama, FrancisFrancis FukuyamaYoshihiro Francis Fukuyama is an American political scientist, political economist, and author. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford. Before that he served as a professor and director of the International Development program at the School of...
: The Imperative of State-Building, in: Journal of Democracy, Vol. 15, No. 2, 17–31, 2004b. - Hehir, A. and Robinson, N. (eds.) "State-building: Theory and Practice", Routledge, London, 2007.
- Kjær, Anne M./Hansen, Ole H./Frølund Thomsen, Jens Peter: Conceptualizing State Capacity, Working Paper, March, Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus, 2002.
- Krasner, Stephen D.: Approaches to the State: Alternative Conceptions and Historical Dynamics, in: Comparative Politics, Vol. 16, No.2, 223–246, 1984.
- Kuzio, Taras/Kravchuk, Robert S./D’Anieri, Paul (eds.): State and Institution Building in Ukraine, London: Routledge, 1998, ISBN 0-415-17195-4 .
- Migdal, Joel S.: State in Society. Studying how States and Societies Transform and Constitute one another, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
- Paris, Roland, A War's End, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2004.
- Parish, MatthewMatthew ParishMatthew Parish is a lawyer and scholar of international relations. He is best known for his writings about the politics of the western Balkans, in particular his prediction of the secession of Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina and his criticisms of the international community's presence...
: A Free City in the Balkans: Reconstructing a Divided Society in Bosnia, London: I.B.Tauris, 2009. - Samuels, Kirsti S, State Building and the Consequences of Constitutional Choices in Conflictual Environments: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fiji, Lebanon, Northern Ireland, South Africa and Uganda, IPA Policy Paper, New York, 2006.
- Skopcol, Theda: Bringing the State Back In, in: Social Science Research Items, Vol. 36, June, 1–8, 1982.
- Tilly, Charles: Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 900–1990, Malden: Blackwell, 2000, ISBN 1-55786-067-X.
- Tilly, Charles (ed.): Western-State Making and Theories of Political Transformation, in: The Formation of National States in Western Europe, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975.
- World BankWorld BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
: World Development Report 1997: The State in a Changing World, Washington, DC: World Bank, 1997 - The U.S. Army. The U.S. Army Stability Operations Field Manual Ann Arbor, University of Michigan PressUniversity of Michigan PressThe University of Michigan Press is part of the University of Michigan Library and serves as a primary publishing unit of the University of Michigan, with special responsibility for the creation and promotion of scholarly, educational, and regional books and other materials in digital and print...
, 2009. - Whaites, Alan: `States in Development: Understanding State-building,' UK Department for International Development, London, 2008 (States in Development paper).
- Zaum, Dominik: The Sovereignty Paradox: The Norms and Politics of International Statebuilding, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.