Capacity and its fallacies: International state building as state transformation

Millennium: Journal of International Studies

Volumn 38, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 55-81

  Hameiri, Shahar ^a  

^a MURDOCH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Fragile states; Governance; Intervention; State building; State capacity

Indexed keywords

EID: 70349164364     PISSN: 03058298     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0305829809335942     Document Type: Article

References (99)

1. Notable examples include: Francis Fukuyama, State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004).
2. Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart, Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
3. To eliminate confusion, the term 'state building' is used in preference to 'nation building' in this text. 'Nation building' is frequently used in American policy jargon to refer essentially to the same thing as 'state building'. See, for example, James Dobbins, John G. McGinn, Keith Crane, Seth G. Jones, Rollie Lal, Andrew Rathmell, Rachel Swanger and Anga Timilsina, America's Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq (Santa Monica, Arlington and Pittsburgh: RAND Corporation, 2003).
4. In other cases, however, nation building is used to refer to programmes aimed at developing a less tangible sense of 'nationhood'. This is often used as a critique of current approaches to international intervention with their focus on the state. See, for example, Sinclair Dinnen, A Comment on State-Building in Solomon Islands, Journal of Pacific History 42, no. 2 (2007): 255-63.
5. David Chandler, Empire in Denial: The Politics of State-Building (London: Pluto Press, 2006).
6. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was first to articulate human security in a major document. See UNDP, Human Development Report 1994 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994).
7. For example, Mary Kaldor, Mary Martin and Sabine Selchow, Human Security: A New Strategic Narrative for Europe, International Affairs 83, no. 2 (2007): 273-88.
8. For a critique of the human security agenda, see David Chandler, From Kosovo to Kabul and beyond: Human Rights and International Intervention (London: Pluto Press, 2006).
9. A similar point is often made by feminist theorists in relation to social institutions such as 'culture' that tend to mask and naturalise power relations. See Jill Steans, Debating Women's Human Rights as a Universal Feminist Project: Defending Women's Human Rights as a Political Tool, Review of International Studies 33, no. 1 (2007): 11-27, 15-16.
10. Graham Harrison, The World Bank and Africa: The Construction of Governance States (New York and London: Routledge, 2004).
11. Thandika Mkandawire, Crisis Management and the Making of "Choiceless Democracies" in Africa, The State, Conflict and Development in Africa, ed. Richard Joseph (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1999): 119-36.
12. See OECD Development Assistance Committee, Whole of Government Approaches to Fragile States, Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006.
13. OECD, Policy Brief: Security Sector Reform and Governance: Policy and Good Practice, Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, May 2004, 6.
14. Morten Bøås and Kathleen M. Jennings, "Failed States" and "State Failure": Threats or Opportunities? Globalizations 4, no. 4 (2007): 475-85.
15. Oded L̈wenheim, Examining the State: A Foucauldian Perspective on International "Governance Indicators", Third World Quarterly 29, no. 2 (2008): 255-74.
16. See Ghani and Lockhart, Fixing Failed States.
17. Sebastian von Einsiedel, Policy Responses to State Failure, in Making States Work: State Failure and the Crisis of Governance, eds Simon Chesterman, Michael Ignatieff and Ramesh Thakur (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2005), 13-35, 15.
18. Robert I. Rotberg, The Failure and Collapse of Nation-States: Breakdown, Prevention and Repair, in When States Fail: Causes and Consequences, ed. Robert I. Rotberg (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004), 1-45, 1.
19. Von Einsiedel, Policy Responses to State Failure, 15.
20. See, for example, USAID, Fragile States Strategy, Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, January 2005.
21. Department for International Development (DfID), Why We Need to Work More Effectively in Fragile States, UK government, DfID, January 2005.
22. Magui Moreno Torres and Michael Anderson, Fragile States: Defining Difficult Environments for Poverty Reduction, Poverty Reduction in Difficult Environments Team, Policy Division, UK Department for International Development, August 2004, 6.
23. For an overview of the neo-Weberian institutionalist approach, see Shahar Hameiri, Failed States or a Failed Paradigm? State Capacity and the Limits of Institutionalism, Journal of International Relations and Development 10, no. 2 (2007): 122-49.
24. David Craig and Doug Porter, Development beyond Neoliberalism? (New York and London: Routledge, 2006).
25. For example, Douglass North, The New Institutional Economics and Third World Development, in The New Institutional Economics and Third World Development, eds John Harriss, Jane Hunter and Colin M. Lewis (London: Routledge, 1995), 17-26.
26. Mark T. Berger and Heloise Weber, Beyond State-Building: Global Governance and the Crisis of the Nation-State System in the 21st Century, Third World Quarterly 27, no. 1 (2006): 201-8, 202.
27. Paul Collier, V.L. Elliot, Håvard Hegre, Anke Höeffler, Marta Reynal-Querol and Nicholas Sambanis, Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy (Oxford: World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2003).
28. See Ghani and Lockhart, Fixing Failed States.
29. Paul Collier, Economic Causes of Civil Conflict and Their Implications for Policy, Washington, DC: World Bank, 15 June 2000, 4.
30. World Bank, Country Policy and Institutional Assessment, Washington, DC: World Bank, 2003.
31. Ibid., 2.
32. Andrew Rosser, Introduction: Achieving Turnaround in Fragile States, IDS Bulletin 37, no. 2 (2006): 1-13, 2.
33. Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Our Failing Neighbour: Australia and the Future of Solomon Islands, Canberra: ASPI, 2003.
34. Alexander Downer, Our Failing Neighbour: Australia and the Future of Solomon Islands. Speech at the Launch of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Report, Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website, 10 June 2003, http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/speeches/2003/030610_solomonislands.html. Accessed 23 August 2005.
35. See also Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Solomon Islands: Rebuilding an Island Economy, Canberra: DFAT Economic Analytical Unit, 2004, 3.
36. ASPI, Our Failing Neighbour, 20.
37. Ibid., 23.
38. See Nick Warner, Message to the People of Solomon Islands: Speech by Nick Warner, Special Coordinator, Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website, 24 July 2003, http://www.dfat.gov.au/media/speeches/department/240703_warner_soli.html. Accessed 23 August 2005.
39. Hameiri, Failed States or a Failed Paradigm?
40. Nicos Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism (London: New Left Books, 1978).
41. Bob Jessop, Capitalism and Democracy: The Best Possible Shell? in States and Societies, eds David Held and Martin Robertson (New York: New York University Press, 1983), 272-89.
42. Kevin Hewison, Garry Rodan and Richard Robison, Introduction: Changing Forms of State Power in Southeast Asia, in Southeast Asia in the 1990s: Authoritarianism, Democracy and Capitalism, eds Kevin Hewison, Richard Robison and Garry Rodan (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1993), 2-8, 4-5.
43. See Terence Wesley-Smith, Self-Determination in Oceania, Race and Class 48, no. 3 (2007): 29-46.
44. Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996).
45. Shahar Hameiri, The Trouble with RAMSI: Reexamining the Roots of Conflict in Solomon Islands, Contemporary Pacific 19, no. 2 (2007): 409-41.
46. Ian Frazer, The Struggle for Control of Solomon Island Forests, Contemporary Pacific 9, no. 1 (1997): 39-72.
47. Bruce Knapman and Cedric D. Saldanha, Reforms in the Pacific: An Assessment of the Asian Development Bank's Assistance to Reform Programmes in the Pacific, Manila: Asian Development Bank, 1999.
48. Jon Fraenkel, The Manipulation of Custom: From Uprising to Intervention in the Solomon Islands (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2004).
49. Derick W. Brinkerhoff, Capacity Development in Fragile States, Maastricht: European Centre for Development Policy Management, Discussion Paper No. 58D, May 2007, 3.
50. Peter Morgan, Tony Land and Heather Baser, Study on Capacity, Change and Performance: Interim Report, Maastricht: European Centre for Development Policy Management, Discussion Paper No. 59A, April 2005, 6.
51. Heather Baser, Provision of Technical Assistance Personnel in the Solomon Islands: What Can We Learn from the RAMSI Experience? Maastricht: European Centre for Development Policy Management, Discussion Paper No. 76, September 2007, 14.
52. Ibid., 11.
53. John Winter and Kaye Schofield, Annual Performance Report 2006/2007: A Report on the Performance of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, RAMSI Performance Assessment Advisory Team, July 2007, 30.
54. Baser, Provision of Technical Assistance Personnel in the Solomon Islands, 30.
55. Winter and Schofield, Annual Performance Report 2006/2007, vi.
56. Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Eminent Persons Group, A Review of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, Nadi: PIF, May 2005.
57. PIF, Pacific Islands Forum Review of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, Suva: PIF, 2007.
58. Kanishka Jayasuriya, Statecraft, Welfare and the Politics of Inclusion (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).
59. David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 17.
60. Graham Wilson, In a State?, Governance 13, no. 2 (2000): 235-42, 241.
61. Alberta M. Sbragia, Governance, the State, and the Market: What is Going On?, Governance 13, no. 2 (2000): 243-50, 246, her emphasis.
62. Ibid., 248.
63. Gary Rodan, Accountability and Authoritarianism: Human Rights in Malaysia and Singapore, Journal of Contemporary Asia 39, no. 2 (2009): 180-203.
64. See Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks, Unraveling the Central State, but How? Types of Multi-Level Governance, American Political Science Review 97, no. 2 (2003): 233-43.
65. Bob Jessop, Multi-Level Governance and Multi-Level Metagovernance, in Multi-Level Governance, eds Ian Bache and Matthew Flinders (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 49-74, 65.
66. Kanishka Jayasuriya, Globalization and the Changing Architecture of the State: The Regulatory State and the Politics of Negative Co-ordination, Journal of European Public Policy 8, no. 1 (2001): 101-23.
67. Colin Leys, Market-Driven Politics: Neoliberal Democracy and the Public Interest (London and New York: Verso, 2001), 1, original italics.
68. Graham Harrison, Post-Conditionality Politics and Administrative Reform: Reflections on the Cases of Uganda and Tanzania, Development and Change 32, no. 3 (2001): 657-79.
69. OECD, Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, March 2005.
70. Toby Carroll and Shahar Hameiri, Good Governance and Security: The Limits of Australia's New Aid Programme, Journal of Contemporary Asia 37, no. 4 (2007): 410-30, 413.
71. See Lakhdar Brahimi and colleagues, Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, New York: United Nations, 2000.
72. Roland Paris, At War's End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
73. See Craig Burnside and Dollar David, Aid, Policies and Growth, Washington, DC: World Bank Working Paper No. 1777, 1997.
74. See Fukuyama, State-Building. This is despite the fact that the empirical link between terrorism and state failure has never been established.
75. See Anna Simons and David Tucker, The Misleading Problem of Failed States: A "Socio-Geography" of Terrorism in the Post-9/11 Era, Third World Quarterly 28, no. 2 (2007): 387-401.
76. See Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde, Security: A New Framework of Analysis (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1998), 23-6.
77. OAG, OAG Audit Approach, Honiara: Solomon Islands Government Office of the Auditor General, no date.
78. OAG, Annual Reports 2002-2006, Honiara: Solomon Islands Government Office of the Auditor General, 2007, 18.
79. Ibid., 7, 22.
80. For example, AusAID, Australian Aid: Promoting Growth and Stability, Canberra: Australian Government Agency for International Development, 2006, 60.
81. OAG, Strategic Audit Plan and Tactical Audit Plan 2008-2012, Honiara: Solomon Islands Government Office of the Auditor General, November 2007, 4.
82. Personal interview with OAG Deputy Auditor General, Honiara, 12 September 2007.
83. OAG, An Auditor-General's Insights into Corruption in Solomon Islands Government, Honiara: Solomon Islands Government Office of the Auditor General, October 2007.
84. OAG, Strategic Audit Plan.
85. OAG, An Auditor-General's Insights into Corruption, 21.
86. Ibid., 20.
87. Interview with OAG Deputy Auditor General.
88. OAG, Strategic Audit Plan, 5.
89. Lloyd Jones, PAC: Solomon PM, Others, out to Destroy RAMSI: Downer, Australian Associated Press, 3 October 2007.
90. Craig Skehan, Intervention Can't Stop Loggers in Solomons, West Australian online, 7 January 2008, http://www.thewest.com.au/printfriendly.aspx?ContentID=53443. Accessed 9 January 2008.
91. Forrest Metz, Conflict Prevention or Promotion? An Analysis of Economic Planning and Performance in the Solomon Islands, Honiara: Oxfam International Solomon Islands, April 2006.
92. Hameiri, The Trouble with RAMSI.
93. Australian National University (ANU) Enterprise, People's Survey 2007 - Summary, Honiara: Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, October 2007, 9.
94. Jeffrey S. Steeves, Unbounded Politics in the Solomon Islands: Leadership and Party Alignments, Pacific Studies 19, no. 1 (1996): 115-38.
95. Edward J. Huniehu, Political Corruption, Solomon Star, 11 September 2007, 8.
96. See Jon Fraenkel, The Impact of RAMSI on the 2006 Elections in Solomon Islands, Political Science 58, no. 2 (2006): 63-85.
97. The Solomon Islands registered the highest levels of GDP growth per capita in the South Pacific in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Nevertheless, it is important to bear in mind that the destruction of the 1998-2000 years meant that the starting point was very low.
98. New Foreign Investment Act Attracts Investors, Solomon Times Online, 22 August 2007, http://solomontimes.com/news.aspx?nwID=537&print=1. Accessed 12 November 2007.
99. Data obtained by the author from the Office of the Registrar of Foreign Investments, Ministry of Trade.