'State failure' in theory and practice: the idea of the state and the contradictions of state formation

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Introduction

In recent years, a growing number of states have experienced severe crises. In some cases, the erosion of the state has proceeded so far as to leading to widespread political violence. Against the background of these developments, it is not surprising that 'state failure' and 'state collapse' have become catchwords in recent discourse about political development in 'the third world'.¹

There are both economic and political reasons for this renewed focus on the state. On the one hand, the necessity of stronger states and improved government performance has been recognised by proponents of economic liberalism, such as the World Bank.² Faced with the disappointing results of nearly two decades of structural adjustment, it was recognised that one of the key impediments to growth in third world countries was the absence of effective state institutions. As a result, we have seen a renewed focus on 'capacity building' and 'good governance'. On the other hand, the emergence of international terrorism has, in particular after 9/11, prompted Western countries to emphasise the importance of state building and prevention of state failure for the sake of their own security and for the fight against terrorism.

This article takes the fast-growing discourse of 'state failure' as its starting point and analyses some of the key contributions to this debate. The aim is not to discuss particular cases of state failure, or to identify some general causes of failure, or even less to suggest how it can be addressed. Instead, it seeks to identify the assumptions underlying some of the contributions to this discourse, and the implications of those assumptions for how we understand the phenomenon referred to as 'state failure'. The article has three aims:

1)

To identify the notion of the state underlying a few key contributions to the discourse of state failure.

2)

To assess the methodological strategy employed by these contributions and suggest an alternative methodology.

3)

To outline an alternative approach to the analysis of post-colonial state formation³

Accordingly, the article has three parts. First, I briefly summarise and criticise some key contributions to this discourse, focusing in particular on the notion of the state underlying the analyses and on the implications of these assumptions...