The GOVERNANCE blog

Clinic in Somalia. Photo: The Global Fund/Didier Ruef.

The October 2014 issue of Governance (27.4) will feature a series of articles on external actors, state-building, and service provision in areas of limited statehood.  All of the articles are now available online.  (See links below.)

Thomas Risse of Freie Universität Berlin provides an overview of the special issue:  “While virtually all polities enjoy uncontested international legal sovereignty, there are wide variations in domestic sovereignty, i.e., the monopoly over the means of violence and/or the ability of the state to make and implement policies.  Most states lack domestic sovereignty and exhibit areas of limited statehood, at least in some parts of the territory or with regard to some policy-areas. Areas of limited statehood are not, however, ungoverned or ungovernable spaces where anarchy and chaos prevail, as this special issue demonstrates. The provision of collective goods and services is possible even under extremely adverse conditions of fragile or failed statehood. 

“This special issue explores the conditions under which external efforts at state-building and service provision by state and non-state actors can achieve their goals. We argue that three factors determine success: legitimacy, task complexity, and institutionalization including the provision of adequate resources. Without legitimacy, external efforts at state-building or service provision will inevitably fail. If the external actors are considered legitimate, simple tasks can be accomplished even under the most adverse conditions, while complex tasks require strong institutionalization.

“Articles focus on the extent to which external actors enhance the capacity of authority structures in weak states through trusteeships, governance delegation agreements, and anti-corruption efforts. We also investigate the contribution of external actors to the delivery of public goods such as public security, health, education, food, and basic infrastructure. The articles investigates a variety of external actors, both state and non-state – foreign governments, international organizations, transnational public-private partnerships, and multinational corporations.”

External Actors, State-Building, and Service Provision in Areas of Limited Statehood: Introduction | Stephen D. Krasner and Thomas Risse

Why International Trusteeship Fails: The Politics of External Authority in Areas of Limited Statehood | David A. Lake and Christopher J. Fariss

Governance Delegation Agreements: Shared Sovereignty as a Substitute for Limited Statehood | Aila M. Matanock

State-Building and the European Union’s Fight against Corruption in the Southern Caucasus: Why Legitimacy Matters | Tanja A. Börzel and Vera van Hüllen

Taking the State (Back) Out? Statehood and the Delivery of Collective Goods | Melissa M. Lee, Gregor Walter-Drop and John Wiesel

Transnational Partnerships: Conditions for Successful Service Provision in Areas of Limited Statehood | Marianne Beisheim, Andrea Liese, Hannah Janetschek and Johanna Sarre

External Actors and the Provision of Public Health Services in Somalia | Marco Schäferhoff

Multinational Corporations and Service Provision in Sub-Saharan Africa: Legitimacy and Institutionalization Matter | Jana Hönke and Christian R. Thauer

Learn more about the Limited Statehood Research Center at Freie Universität Berlin.