State capacity

State capacity is the ability of a government to accomplish policy goals, either generally or in reference to specific aims. A state that lacks capacity is defined as a fragile state or, in a more extreme case, a failed state. Higher state capacity has been strongly linked to long-term economic development, as state capacity can establish law and order, private property rights, and external defense, as well as support development by establishing a competitive market, transportation infrastructure, and mass education.

Risk factor for violence

Further information: Risk factors for genocide and Genocide prevention

The risk of civil war increases when relational state capacity is low, meaning the state has less control over its subjects than outsiders, or challengers to its domain (the monopoly of violence). The political majority is more likely to instigate a genocide when threatened with state failure. States with strong social control can enforce their own policies and deter membership in alternate rebel organizations. In some parts of the world, like Africa, some ethnic groups may be more distant from the capital but have a high level of internal connectedness. This type of scenario may reduce central social control, presenting an elevated risk of civil conflict and armed violence in Africa. Many scholars have argued that the lack of social control in Africa is a risk factor for violence.

Applications

There are multiple dimensions of state capacity, as well as varied indicators of state capacity. In studies that use state capacity as a causal variable, it has frequently been measured as the ability to tax, provide public goods, enforce property rights, achieve economic growth or hold a monopoly on the use of force within a territory.

State capacity is distinct from political control, as the latter refers to the tactics that states use to gain compliance from society.

The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) determined that basic state capacities are to

1. Assist in the acquisition of new technologies
2. Mobilize and channel resources to productive sectors
3. Enforce standards and regulations
4. Establish social pacts
5. Fund deliver and regulate services and social programmes

States must be able to create the

1. Political Capacity to address the extent to which the necessary coalitions or political settlements can be built
2. Resource Mobilization Capacity to generate resources for investment and social development
3. Allocate Resources To Productive And Welfare-Enhancing Sectors

State formation

State capacity may involve an expansion of the state's information-gathering abilities. In processes of state-building, states began implementing a regular and reliable census, the regular release of statistical yearbooks, and civil and population registers, as well as establishing a government agency tasked with processing statistical information.

Mark Dincecco distinguishes between state capacity (the state's ability to accomplish its intended actions) and "effective statehood" (the political arrangements that enable the state to best accomplish its intended actions). He argues that fiscal centralization and institutional impartiality are key to effective statehood.

See also

• State (polity)
• State formation
• State building
• Capacity-building

Further reading

• Müller-Crepon, C. (2021). "State reach and development in Africa since the 1960s: New data and analysis." Political Science Research and Methods.

References

1. ^ ^a b c Dincecco, Mark (2017). State Capacity and Economic Development: Present and Past. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1, 15–24. ISBN 978-1-108-33755-7.
2. ^ ^a b Dincecco, Mark; Wang, Yuhua (2023). "State Capacity". The Oxford Handbook of Historical Political Economy. SSRN 4022645.
3. ^ Akbar, Nafisa; Ostermann, Susan L. (2015). "Understanding, Defining, and Measuring State Capacity in India: Traditional, Modern, and Everything in Between An Asian Survey Special Issue on India". Asian Survey. 55 (5): 845–861. doi:10.1525/as.2015.55.5.845. ISSN 0004-4687. JSTOR 26364315.
4. ^ Brambor, Thomas; Goenaga, Agustín; Lindvall, Johannes; Teorell, Jan (2020-02-01). "The Lay of the Land: Information Capacity and the Modern State". Comparative Political Studies. 53 (2): 175–213. doi:10.1177/0010414019843432. ISSN 0010-4140. S2CID 133292367.
5. ^ "State Capacity, Conflict, and Development" (PDF). Econometrica. 78 (1): 1–34. 2010. doi:10.3982/ECTA8073. S2CID 2887246.
6. ^ Hameiri, Shahar (2007). "Failed states or a failed paradigm? State capacity and the limits of institutionalism". Journal of International Relations and Development. 10 (2): 122–149. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jird.1800120. S2CID 143220503.
7. ^ Dincecco, Mark (2022-05-02). "State Capacity in Historical Political Economy: What, How, Why, and Why Not?". Broadstreet. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
8. ^ Müller-Crepon C, Hunziker P, Cederman LE. Roads to Rule, Roads to Rebel: Relational State Capacity and Conflict in Africa. J Conflict Resolut. 2021 Feb;65(2-3):563-590. doi: 10.1177/0022002720963674. Epub 2020 Oct 6. PMID: 33487734; PMCID: PMC7797612.
9. ^ Chaudoin, Stephen; Gaines, Brian J.; Livny, Avital (2021). "Survey Design, Order Effects, and Causal Mediation Analysis" (PDF). The Journal of Politics. 83 (4): 1851–1856. doi:10.1086/715166. ISSN 0022-3816. S2CID 235409424. Archived from the original on 2021.
10. ^ Berwick, Elissa; Christia, Fotini (2018). "State Capacity Redux: Integrating Classical and Experimental Contributions to an Enduring Debate". Annual Review of Political Science. 21 (1): 71–91. doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-072215-012907. ISSN 1094-2939.
11. ^ Suryanarayan, Pavithra (2021-04-12). "State capacity: a useful concept or meaningless pablum?". Broadstreet. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
12. ^ Hassan, Mai; Mattingly, Daniel; Nugent, Elizabeth R. (2022). "Political Control". Annual Review of Political Science. 25 (1): 155–174. doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-051120-013321. ISSN 1094-2939. S2CID 244783975.
13. ^ ^a b UNRISD 2010. "Building State Capacity for Poverty Reduction." Chapter 10, pp. 3–36.
14. ^ Brambor, Thomas; Goenaga, Agustín; Lindvall, Johannes; Teorell, Jan (2020). "The Lay of the Land: Information Capacity and the Modern State". Comparative Political Studies. 53 (2): 175–213. doi:10.1177/0010414019843432. ISSN 0010-4140. S2CID 133292367.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article  Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.