scholarly journals More Security, More Legitimacy? Effective Governance as a Source of State Legitimacy in Liberia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
William George Nomikos
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Modelling ◽  
The State ◽  
County Level ◽  
Institutional Legitimacy ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Effective Governance ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
State Authority ◽  
Original Survey

What explains the legitimacy of state institutions in areas of limited statehood? In order to ensure effective governance, it is critical for states with limited capacities to establishthe legitimacy of state authority. Yet, the sources of institutional legitimacy are not well understood in areas of limited statehood where legitimacy is often the only mechanism for the state to ensure compliance and cooperation of citizens. This article argues that inareas of limited statehood a state’s legitimacy among the domestic population crucially depends on whether that population feels safe and secure. We test this argument withan original survey fielded with 2,000 respondents from Liberia using multilevel modelling. Our results demonstrate that security perceptions of the population play a key role instrengthening state legitimacy at both the community and county level. We also find that explicit attribution of security to specific institutions is key for linking more effectivegovernance with more legitimacy. However, security alone is not enough to acquire state legitimacy. Our analysis also reveals that states gain legitimacy when locals perceiveinstitutions as just and elections as free and fair in addition to feeling secure. The results demonstrate that the sources of state legitimacy are multifaceted and that the provisionof security is an important component thereof. Thereby, our study speaks to lates theoretical debates on the various sources of state legitimacy and contributes novelempirical evidence.

Global Gradations of Secularism: The Consociational, Communal and Coercive Paradigms

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 354-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Farha
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
The State ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
Critical Measure ◽  
Pluralistic Societies ◽  
Human Cost ◽  
Maoist China ◽  
Cultural Homogenization

Abstract In engaging with heterogeneous societies, states have oscillated between three modes of dealing with social diversity: accommodation, segregation and eradication. Accordingly, this article cross-examines three typologies of secularism: Consociational secularism (Lebanon), communal partition (India and Pakistan) and coercive secularization (China and Turkey). The article argues that while each state shared the challenge of establishing state sovereignty in pluralistic societies, the central authorities’ attempt to impose homogenization varied according to the strength of state institutions, the hold of communal ideologies and the degree of disparate socio-economic interests. The legitimacy of regimes hinged on the perceived impartiality of the state in meeting the demands of diverse socio-economic and ethno-religious constituencies. The article argues that the potential for fragmentation was particularly high when socio-economic fault-lines overlapped with, and reinforced ethno-religious fissures. When sectarian solidarity trumped loyalty to the state, partition along communal lines unfolded within the caldron of civil war, as was the case in Lebanon in 1975 and the Indian Subcontinent in 1947 and 1971. By contrast, the authoritarian states of Maoist China and Kemalist Turkey could enforce, albeit violently and at great human cost, a rigidly secular, cultural homogenization in part because they were perceived to be lessening socio-economic inequalities despite their assault on traditional identities. In all cases, and regardless of whether or not a dominant majority existed or not, sovereignty and state legitimacy was ultimately predicated not so much on the absence or presence of democracy or diversity, but on the provision of a critical measure of justice for all citizens irrespective of origin or identity.

The sources of continuity and change of Ukraine’s incomplete state

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 417-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serhiy Kudelia
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Effective Governance ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Institutional Void ◽  
State Authority ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Dominant Actor ◽  
Institutional Foundations

This article examines the evolution of the state in Ukraine from an object of elite predation in early 1990s into a dominant actor in relations with non-state actors under Kuchma, an instrument of elite struggles for power and rents under Yushchenko and a return to a centralized state authority under Yanukovych. Despite its different transformations the state in Ukraine has been continuously characterized by the prevalence of informal levers of power and the absence of strong formal institutional foundations. As a result, after twenty years it still lacks the prerequisites of effective governance in a modern state – an impersonal bureaucracy, rule of law and mechanisms of accountability. This institutional void produces Ukraine’s vicious cycling between hybrid types of authoritarianism and democracy leaving the state dysfunctional and incomplete.

scholarly journals Vigilantism A 'Twilight Institution': Islamic Vigilante Groups and the State in Post-Suharto Yogyakarta

PCD Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Moh Zaki Arrobi
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Youth Movement ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Street Politics ◽  
Patronage Politics ◽  
State Authority ◽  
Security Business

The paper attempts to comprehend the nexus between identity politics, vigilantism, and citizenship within Islamist groups in Yogyakarta in the post-Suharto era. As numerous studies have revealed, post-Suharto era’s democracy in Indonesia has been marked by the persistence of militias, gangs, vigilantism, and street politics. These groups have largely embraced ethnicity, religion, and localism as their symbolism that represents a community that they claim they are defending. The widespread of identity-based groups that frequently breaking the law and public order have been portrayed either as the emergence of ‘uncivil society’ elements that challenging the state authority and threatening the very foundations of civil society and democratic values (see Beittenger, 2009, Jones, 2015, Hefner, 2016) or as the criminals that defend the political and economic interest of the oligarchic elites (Hadiz, 2003:607).  Without rejecting certain degree of fact within these studies, the article suggests that these explanations failed to understand the complexity of such groups and what constitutes their persistence in the local political landscape. This article argues that such groups have exercised a form of citizenship that is characterised by the mobilisation of local support, patronage politics and discourse of localised ‘Islamic populism’. In this regard, it suggests that the prominence of Islamist-vigilante groups in Yogyakarta lies in their role as ‘Twilight institution’ that can channel the citizens into the state institutions not just to negotiating their basic rights such as employment and public service through exploiting violence, patronage, and security business but also to defending their imagined and localised Ummah community.  In doing so, it embraces the notions that boundary between state and non-state is far more complex and often blurred; therefore, it will be fruitful to recognize that the state authority should be regarded as mingled result of the exercise of power by a variety of local institutions and the imposition of external institutions rather than a coherent and fixed institution (Migdal, 2004, Lunds, 2006).In making such arguments, the paper takes the role of Islamist groups in Yogyakarta particularly groups that loosely associated with the Development United Party (PPP) such as Gerakan Pemuda Kaaba (Kaaba Youth Movement), Gerakan Anti Maksiat (Anti-Vice Movement), and Laskar Hizbullah (Hizbullah troops) as the exemplar for elucidating the intersection between identity politics, vigilantism, and citizenship in localized political landscape. The primary data was conducted through in-depth interviews as well as participatory observations during 2014-2016. 

The State from Below: Distorted Responsiveness in Policed Communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 1423-1471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwen Prowse ◽  
Vesla M. Weaver ◽  
Tracey L. Meares
Keyword(s):  
New Technology ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
The State ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Everyday Activity ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
State Action ◽  
State Authority ◽  
The City

This article uses a new technology, “Portals,” to initiate conversations about policing between individuals in communities where this form of state action is concentrated. Based on more than 800 recorded and transcribed conversations across 12 neighborhoods in five cities, the largest collection of policing narratives to date, we analyze patterns in discourse around policing. Our goal in closely analyzing these conversations is to uncover how people who experience state authority through policing characterize democratic governance by mapping citizens’ experiences with and views of the state, how they judge the responsiveness of authorities, and their experience-informed critiques of democracy. Methodologically, we argue that observing through Portals real conversations of ordinary people largely unmediated by the researcher allows us to transcend certain limitations of traditional, survey-based techniques and to study politics in beneficially recursive ways. Theoretically, we demonstrate that Portals participants characterize police as contradictory—everywhere when surveilling people’s everyday activity and nowhere if called upon to respond to serious harm. We call this Janus-faced interaction with the state “distorted responsiveness,” and we demonstrate the organic connection of this characterization of police to our participants’ theorization of their broader relationship with the state. We argue that their understandings of their own relationships with the key state institutions in their lives are foundational to developing a fuller understanding of democracy in action. In short, by focusing on how individuals experience citizenship in the city through ordinary experiences with municipal bureaucrats who figure prominently in their lives, we can develop a theory of the state from below.

Limited Statehood Does Not Equal Civil War

Daedalus ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 147 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Risse ◽  
Eric Stollenwerk
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Effective Governance ◽  
External Actors ◽  
Rule Making

Limited statehood is frequently depicted as a major cause for civil war and violent conflict. Consequently, state-building efforts are often considered to be an effective tool for the prevention of civil war and violent conflict. This essay argues, however, that this assumption is misguided in several respects. First, at present and historically, areas of limited statehood are the global default rather than the exception. Thus, efforts to eliminate limited statehood would likely be unsuccessful. Second, limited statehood does not equal civil war and violence. In fact, only a small fraction of areas of limited statehood are affected by civil war. Third, a too-narrow focus on state-building may be counterproductive, as it may foster ineffective or even predatory state institutions. Such a focus also ignores the plurality of governance actors beyond the state that are relevant for effective governance–such as service provision and rule-making–in areas of limited statehood. Therefore, external actors like international organizations and foreign powers should contribute to governance-building rather than state-building, with a focus on service provision and rule-making institutions with a broader scope than the state.

scholarly journals From Recognition to Integration: Indigenous Autonomy, State Authority, and National Identity in the Philippines

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
NINA MCMURRY
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The State ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Collective Self ◽  
State Authority ◽  
Original Survey

How does the recognition of collective self-governance rights for indigenous communities affect national unity and state consolidation? In recent decades, many states have recognized such rights, devolving de jure control over land and local governance to indigenous institutions. Prominent perspectives in the state-building literature suggest that these policies are likely to threaten state consolidation by strengthening nonstate authorities at the expense of state authority and subnational identities at the expense of a national identity. Yet few studies have tested whether these policies have the consequences their critics claim. I address this gap, leveraging spatial and temporal variation in the granting of communal land titles to indigenous communities in the Philippines. Using difference-in-differences and panel designs, I find that titling increases both indigenous self-identification and compliance with the state. Results from an original survey experiment suggest that recognizing collective self-governance rights increases identification with the nation.

scholarly journals When anti-corruption agencies delegitimize the state: the cases of Nepal and Guatemala

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio M Gemperle
Keyword(s):  
Reduction Potential ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
The State ◽  
Extensive Review ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
State Legitimacy

State-led anti-corruption agencies are often posited for their state-legitimizing effects. This article argues that anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) can have adverse legitimacy effects on the state and its institutions. Based on an extensive review of the literature, this article first defines twelve ACA ideal types that reflect their corruption-reduction potential. It then illustrates the negative effects of ACAs on state legitimacy through two case studies, Nepal and Guatemala. The findings show that ACAs can have a negative impact on state legitimacy if they increase public awareness and condemnation of corruption in state institutions or if governments interfere with effective investigations from the ACA. Taken together, these findings highlight that anti-corruption policies and reforms need to account for and adapt to potentially delegitimating effects on state institutions.

The elimination of violence and terrorism in Iraq strategy

2019 ◽  
pp. 375
Author(s):  
Mona Ali Duaij ◽  
Ahlam Ahmed Issa
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The State ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Terrorist Organization ◽  
The Media ◽  
Causes Of Crime ◽  
Religious Aspect

All the Iraqi state institutions and civil society organizations should develop a deliberate systematic policy to eliminate terrorism contracted with all parts of the economic, social, civil and political institutions and important question how to eliminate Daash to a terrorist organization hostile and if he country to eliminate the causes of crime and punish criminals and not to justify any type of crime of any kind, because if we stayed in the curriculum of justifying legitimate crime will deepen our continued terrorism, but give it legitimacy formula must also dry up the sources of terrorism media and private channels and newspapers that have abused the Holy Prophet Muhammad (p) and all kinds of any of their source (a sheei or a Sunni or Christians or Sabians) as well as from the religious aspect is not only the media but a meeting there must be cooperation of both parts of the state facilities and most importantly limiting arms possession only state you can not eliminate terrorism and violence, and we see people carrying arms without the name of the state and remains somewhat carefree is sincerity honesty and patriotism the most important motivation for the elimination of violence and terrorism and cooperation between parts of the Iraqi people and not be driven by a regional or global international schemes want to kill nations and kill our bodies of Sunnis, sheei , Christians, Sabean and Yazidi and others.

Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, Volume 3

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Just War Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Personal Morality ◽  
George Sher ◽  
Parent Child Relationships ◽  
David Enoch

This volume features ten papers in political philosophy, addressing a range of central topics and represent cutting-edge work in the field. Papers in the first part look at equality and justice: Keith Hyams examines the contribution of ex ante equality to ex post fairness; Elizabeth Anderson looks at equality from a political economy perspective; Serena Olsaretti’s paper studies liberal equality and the moral status of parent–child relationships; and George Sher investigates doing justice to desert. In the second part, papers address questions of state legitimacy: Ralf Bader explores counterfactual justifications of the state; David Enoch examines political philosophy and epistemology; and Seth Lazar and Laura Valentini look at proxy battles in just war theory. The final three papers cover social issues that are not easily understood in terms of personal morality, yet which need not centrally involve the state: the moral neglect of negligence (Seana Valentine Shiffrin), the case for collective pensions (Michael Otsuka); and authority and harm (Jonathan Parry).

The Power of Public Positions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Sinclair
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The State ◽  
Sufficient Condition ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient Condition ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient

The Kantian account of political authority holds that the state is a necessary and sufficient condition of our freedom. We cannot be free outside the state, Kantians argue, because any attempt to have the “acquired rights” necessary for our freedom implicates us in objectionable relations of dependence on private judgment. Only in the state can this problem be overcome. But it is not clear how mere institutions could make the necessary difference, and contemporary Kantians have not offered compelling explanations. A detailed analysis is presented of the problems Kantians identify with the state of nature and the objections they face in claiming that the state overcomes them. A response is sketched on behalf of Kantians. The key idea is that under state institutions, a person can make claims of acquired right without presupposing that she is by nature exceptional in her capacity to bind others.

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