State capacity

State capacity is the ability of a government to accomplish policy goals, either generally or in reference to specific aims.[1][2][3][4] A state that lacks capacity is defined as a fragile state or, in a more extreme case, a failed state.[5][6] 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.[2][7]

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. [8]

Applications

There are multiple dimensions of state capacity, as well as varied indicators of state capacity.[9][10] 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.[11]

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.[12]

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).[1] He argues that fiscal centralization and institutional impartiality are key to effective statehood.[1]

See also

Further reading

References
  1. 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. Dincecco, Mark; Wang, Yuhua (2023). "State Capacity". The Oxford Handbook of Historical Political Economy.
  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. ISSN 0004-4687.
  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.
  5. "State Capacity, Conflict, and Development". Econometrica. 78 (1): 1–34. 2010. doi:10.3982/ECTA8073.
  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.
  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. doi:10.1086/715166. ISSN 0022-3816. 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. 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.
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