scholarly journals Limitations of the concept of state-building: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-207
Author(s):  
Vuk Lazic
Keyword(s):  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
State Building ◽  
International Community ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Local Actors

The paper discusses the dynamics of state-building in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the focus on the analysis of the structural disadvantages of the concept and its implementation in the post-conflict environment. The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina represents a research case within this area study because it is a heterogeneous and divided society, with complicated historical and ongoing relations between local political actors, the complex structure of the political system, and the increasingly contested role of the international factor in the statebuilding process. The analysis of the local political dynamics established during the state-building process clearly shows the conflict between the international and local actors. The performance of the High Representative as the most important international actor in the state-building process has caused the increasing resistance of local political actors to the implementation of the state building. The author emphasizes that the legitimacy deficit and the lack of accountability of the international community, the domination of the authoritarian mode of governance, and the insistence on an integrative strategy that neglects the positions, interests and motives of local actors are the major causes of the failure of the international community project. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina still heavily depends on the international actors, the failure of the state-building process would have far-reaching negative consequences for the political stability and the future of the state. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 179029: Srbija u savremenim medjunarodnim odnosima: Strateski pravci razvoja i ucvrscivanja polozaja Srbije u medjunarodnim integrativnim procesima -spoljnopoliticki, medjunarodni ekonomski, pravni i bezbednosni aspekti]

The Israeli Coalition System

1975 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Z. Paltiel
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Political System ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
The Stability ◽  
State Of Israel

ANALYSTS OF THE ISRAELI POLITICAL SYSTEM HAVE COMMONLY attributed the stability of the polity to factors closely associated with the role played by the various Israeli parties in the state's economic and social life, and/or to the existence of a dominant, institutionalized state-building party. The consociational approach ought to help to clarify those factors which have maintained the stability of the coalition system which has governed the state of Israel since its establishment in 1948 and whose roots may be traced back as far as 1933 and even earlier.The consociational model and the theory of elite accommodation have been elaborated in an effort to explain the maintenance of continuing political stability in what at first glance would appear to be societies deeply divided along social, economic, ethnic, religious and ideological lines. Political stability in fragmented societies from this standpoint rests on the overarching commitment of the political elites to the preservation and maintenance of the system and their readiness to cooperate to this end.

scholarly journals The US State-Building Failure in Afghanistan

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (33) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Osman Mohammed Afzal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Central Government ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Building ◽  
International Community ◽  
The State ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Building Process ◽  
The Us

The almost nineteen years of international troops’ presence and their support and donations to strengthen a democratic state in Afghanistan were in vain. The state-building process began with the toppling of a retrogressive regime, which was considered the base of al-Qaeda leaders who masterminded the 9/11 attacks in the United States. Within 20 years, the Afghan government could not use the opportunities made available by the international community and the US presence in the country. Although most criticisms are leveled at the United States for this state-building failure, on the contrary, its roots in Afghanistan can be precisely traced back to the central government. In other words, the state-building failure in Afghanistan has inner flaws. The blame is not attributable to its international allies regarding the fragility of the state and decay of democracy. This article illustrates how state-building at the pivotal centre of democracy failed in Afghanistan. The main hurdles of state-building are also scrutinised.

Concluding Note

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Gamberini
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Common Thread ◽  
The Common ◽  
Political Principles ◽  
Obedience To Authority

This chapter summarizes all the main points and issues addressed in previous chapters (both in Part I and in Part II), with the aim of highlighting the common thread that runs through the entire work. The result is a new reading of the state-building process at the end of the Middle Ages. The limitations of attempts by governors to present the political principles that inspired their acts as shared and universally recognized are revealed by a historical analysis firmly intent on investigating the existence, in particular territorial or social ambits, of other political cultures which based obedience to authority on different, and frequently original, ideals.

THE CONTOURS OF THE POLITICAL REGIME OF THE TRANSNISTRIAN MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC IN THE CONTEXT OF THE STATE-BUILDING PROCESS

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.A. TATAROV ◽  
А.S. FRANZ
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Process ◽  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Building Process

The article is a scientific study of the formation and functioning of the political regime in the dynamics of the state building of the Transnistrian Republic. The analysis of the Transnistrian statehood phenomenon is fully based on the existing methods of political theory and sociological Sciences. The authors present the Genesis of the political and legal world in the Transnistrian realities through the prism of the implementation of the main directions of domestic and foreign policy of the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic. The variety of approaches to the interpretation and typology of the political regime in the mirror of Transnistrian realities made it possible to identify and justify the existing trends in the political process of Transnistria.

scholarly journals Warlords, the United States, and the state of anarchy in Afghanistan

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Shah Azami
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Illegal Mining ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

As part of its “War on Terror”, the United States (US) provided immense sums of money and advanced equipment to Afghan warlords in order to defeat and dismantle the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Nearly two decades after the 2001 US-led intervention in Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban regime, the US continues supporting the warlords in various ways. As the intervention was also aimed at establishing a functioning state and reconstruction of the war-torn country, the US needed the support of local warlords to achieve its goals. However, over time, warlords and warlordism became a major challenge to the postTaliban state-building project and in many ways undermined the overall security and the state monopoly on violence. These warlords, who had been mostly expelled and defeated by the Taliban regime, returned under the aegis of the B52 bombers, recaptured parts of the country and reestablished their fiefdoms with US support and resources. They not only resist giving up the power and prestige they have accumulated over the past few years, but also hamper the effort to improve governance and enact necessary reforms in the country. In addition, many of them run their private militias and have been accused of serious human rights abuses as well as drug trafficking, arms smuggling, illegal mining and extortion in the areas under their control or influence. In many ways, they challenge the government authority and have become a major hurdle to the country’s emerging from lawlessness and anarchy. This paper explores the emergence and reemergence of warlords in Afghanistan as well as the evolution of chaos and anarchy in the country, especially after the US-led intervention of late 2001. It also analyzes the impact of the post-9/11 US support to Afghan warlords and its negative consequences for the overall stability and the US-led state-building process in Afghanistan.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Nina Silber
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
New Deal ◽  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Central Objective ◽  
Familial Influences ◽  
The New Deal

This introduction lays out the book’s central objective: to explore why Americans returned to the Civil War throughout the New Deal years. The Civil War offered a prism for exploring the emotional upheaval people experienced in light of the Depression; the political debates that swirled around the state-building initiatives of the New Deal; and struggles over race and civil rights. Also explored here is the evolution of this book, including personal and familial influences on the author.

Modern Angst

German Angst ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 130-157
Author(s):  
Frank Biess
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Labor Unions ◽  
Weimar Republic ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
German Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
Negative Consequences

This chapter shifts the focus from fears and anxieties that primarily resulted from the Federal Republic’s external situation to internal fears. The modernization and stabilization of West German society generated their own fears. This chapter focuses on fears of automation during the late 1950s and 1960s. Contrary to conventional wisdom, West Germans did not display an unabashed optimism about technology but were keenly aware of the ambivalent consequences of technological progress. In particular, they remembered the negative consequences of the rationalization movement of the 1920s and their impact on the political stability of the Weimar Republic. The chapter analyzes first the debate about technology among West German intellectuals such as Friedrich Pollock, Helmut Schelsky, and Arnold Gehlen. It then focuses on the broader cultural debate on automation that brought into view anxieties about structural unemployment, deskilling of workers, and psychological impact of automation. As a case study, the chapter then analyzes the confrontation of the largest West German industrial union, IG Metall, with automation. Labor unions did not respond to automation with optimism but were keenly aware of its potentially detrimental effects. A more skeptical attitude toward automation and technological progress more generally thus predated the economic crisis of the 1970s.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Fabio Wolkenstein
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
The State ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Academic Interest ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
Western Democracies

In addition to summarizing the book’s main themes as described, this Introduction places special emphasis on connecting the problem animating the book—the apparent incapacity of contemporary parties to mediate between citizens and the state—to current political developments in established Western democracies, showing that the issues the book addresses are not only of academic interest but also directly relevant to ongoing public debates about the state and health of representative democracy. Chief amongst the themes foregrounded here is the rise of so-called ‘populist’ parties on the left and right of the political spectrum, as well as the re-branding of established political actors as ‘movements’ (think, e.g. of Emmanuel Macron’s La République en Marche). These phenomena are interpreted as part of a larger ‘revolt against intermediary bodies’—meaning first and foremost a rebellion against political parties. The Introduction suggests that this ‘revolt’ brings with it only a temporary shift in how representative politics looks, without actually reversing the disconnect between parties and voters or compelling established political parties to give up their privileges and de-colonize the institutions of the state. This argument sets the stage for the book’s core contention that more thought has to be put into finding ways to reconnect political parties with society.

Staatliche Bezirksbehörden nach 1848. Knotenpunkte der "unmittelbarsten Beziehungen" von Staat und Bevölkerung

2021 ◽  
pp. 203-230
Author(s):  
Thomas Stockinger
Keyword(s):  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
Entire Population ◽  
Constitutional Rule ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
District Administration

District Administration by the State after 1848. The Nexus of the “Most Immediate Relations” between the State and the Population. With the abolition of the manorial system in 1848, the Habsburg state was forced to create its own network of local administrative institutions. This project mobilised huge quantities of both personnel and material resources, and eventually affected the everyday lives of the entire population. In Michael Mann’s terms, it intensified the previously thin, extensive power of the state. On the surface, it sought to strengthen the despotic power of the state, but at the same time, it had to rely on manifold contributions by local actors, who were compensated not only with increasing benefits, but also with opportunities to participate in governance. While the neo-absolutist attempt to replace constitutional rule with paternalist bureaucracy failed, it created structures that would remain fundamental to state-building until the end of the Monarchy and beyond.

American Political Development from Citizens' Perspective: Tracking Federal Government's Presence in Individual Lives over Time

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Mettler ◽  
Andrew Milstein
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Political Roles ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Although scholars of American political development (APD) have helped transform many aspects of the study of U.S. politics over the last quarter-century, they have barely begun to use the powerful analytical tools of this approach to elucidate the relationship between government and citizens. APD research has probed deeply into the processes of state-building and the creation and implementation of specific policies, yet has given little attention to how such development affects the lives of individuals and the ways in which they relate to government. Studies routinely illuminate how policies influence the political roles of elites and organized groups, but barely touch on how the state shapes the experiences and responses of ordinary individuals. As a result, we know little about how governance has influenced citizenship over time or how those changes have, in turn, affected politics.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document