State-building Efforts Research Articles

The Somaliland Media and the Public Deception

When Somaliland reclaimed its sovereignty in 1991, it took steps to have vibrant media, which took part in state and peace building efforts. A strong and vibrant media sector is seen as an important resource for national development and social demobilization efforts. Indeed, though considerable progress has been achieved in the expansion of media in Somaliland, yet significant challenges to media both state-owned and independent remain to be addressed. In recent years, there has been growing criticisms of the conduct of the mass media in Somaliland. This criticism is multifaceted – economic, political, and ethical – and is grounded mostly in the facts concerning the conduct of the media. In nearly twenty years plus, the media have enjoyed editorial independence; self-censoring, and their first and foremost responsibility remained in avoiding public and private disappointments. But, has never materialized this opportunity in which most African media if not all have never experienced. This failure could be linked to the absence of professional ethics, objective reporting and social responsibility with defined critical thinking principles. The absence of objective reporting and truth are regarded as the most challenging factors on the Somaliland freedom of speech and expression. Therefore, the media people neither have professionalism nor the knowledge to exercise media tasks. The central objective of this study is therefore, to examine the conditions of the Somaliland media and how the media deceive the public by dumping news which are contrary to the interests of the public at large. The study mainly relied on primary and secondary data includes individual interviews and discussions with the media people, politicians, academicians, and the public at large, while relevant literatures from books, journals, policy documents, among others were reviewed. The study suggests the necessity for addressing the challenges facing the media and the need for urgent legal, policy and institutional reforms to improve the level of Somaliland media, thus maintain the trust between the media for one hand, and the state and the public for the other.

Ukrainian mental lyricism installation and its music manifestation

Purpose the article emerges the demonstration specifics the as the mental-social quality culture and particularities her entailments in the music sphere. The methodological base the study is interdisciplinary reflective-style and the culturology-hermeneutic way to semantic interpretation corresponding to buildings scientific and music-creative thinking in continuation position T.Adorno, A.Losev, studies A.Sokol, E.Markova, O.Muravskaya, and others. Scientific novelty got the result - theoretically independent realization to concentrations the national-mental discovery culture in creative nоn-conformism to avoid аrtistic-style mergings national artistic contribution with genre-style paradigm generally- European style apportionment. Conclusions. Ukrainian lyricism mark as the way the thinking, in which rationalist subject delimitation importances is in principal corrected over-sapidity steaming emotional thickenings-rarefactions that will add the person the sort artificial cultural rhythm self-expression carriers national character. Stands out the psychic paradigm oscillation in the spiritual act concentration and emotional sadness, which recognize in the lachrymal-moving mysticism the Orthodoxy, passing маximalism worldwide saving of Russian Orient, hoping on spontaneity brotherhood that defines the animated over-individual character the soul in lyricism. It is emphasized social phenomenon confusion scene and lives, which in life discovery marks аrtistical tone public and larval decisions, confirming in mеlоdy-song manifestation morally-organizing abutment to nations outside state-building effort. The last, being brought forth on the first plan national self-determination at the end XX centuries, have realized, possible, discharge the professional music from song-vоcаl manifestation in favor chamber-instrumental modesty demand artistic begin in the aggregate national existence.

Coordinating international interventions in complex settings. An analysis of the EU peace and state-building efforts in post-independence Kosovo

ABSTRACTThis paper assesses coordination as a salient capability of international interventions in complex settings characterised by weak stakes, the dominance of political elites whose interest in reforms is questionable and multiple local and international stakeholders. It focuses on the challenge of integrating a range of national and international actors and multiple policy domains, assessing this operational capability in terms of a Whole-of-Society approach. Using the example of the EU’s intervention in Kosovo through the mechanisms of the EULEX mission, and the EU-facilitated Dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, the paper argues that the EU’s impact in Kosovo was weakened by its limited ability to include and engage a broad range of local stakeholders. While a Whole-of-Society approach could address this weakness, the paper also argues that a better understanding of the context-specific opportunities and limitations placed on international organisations like the EU is needed.

Deteriorating Proximity between Liberal Peacebuilding and Counterinsurgency: Warlordism and Corruption in Afghanistan

This essay aims at a critical analysis of liberal statebuilding efforts in Afghanistan as a counterinsurgency strategy. It interrogates the consequences of recent statebuilding policies of the counterinsurgency campaign in reproducing and perpetuating, rather than ameliorating, unequal sociopolitical relations in Afghanistan. Since statebuilding is a very broad area to analyze in a single article, this essay focuses on warlordism and corruption as two important issues that illustrate the failure of statebuilding efforts as a strategy of counterinsurgency. The biggest criticism posed by the research is the ignorance of local people’s needs and expectations due to the hubris and arrogance of western interveners vis-à-vis their own technological and cognitive “superiority.” Thus, this essay has a local population-based approach which enables that ignored local population to explain their perspectives and evaluate efforts in the country.

Spying on chaos: the Somali model of intelligence on failed states

Failed states pose ongoing strategic challenges for governments concerned with terrorism, poverty and uncontrolled migration. Policy approaches to failed states have ranged from state-building efforts to humanitarian debacles, and outright inaction. This article approaches failed states primarily as intelligence challenges, and uses Somalia as a model of targeting intelligence collection for failed states. This model demonstrates that economic activity offers an approach to intelligence gathering in such environments. In tracing Somalia’s economic successes from the collapse of the Somali state in 1991, this research shows how the business activity produces the needed intelligence opportunities that a strategy for a failed state requires.

Education and nation-state fragility: Evidence from panel data analysis

We empirically investigate the efficacy of current US foreign assistance policy and state-building efforts on state fragility through the effects of school enrollment levels on state fragility. This is accomplished by investigating whether levels of school enrollments (primary, secondary, or tertiary) can predict nation-state fragility; which level of enrollments has the highest effect on the levels of fragility and is subsequently the best investment for foreign assistance efforts; and whether there is a difference in levels of nation-state fragility based on changes in the average number of years of school enrollment. Results indicate education is capable of mitigating state fragility and promoting stable regimes under certain conditions.

Limited Statehood Does Not Equal Civil War

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.

End-of-Conflict Deforestation: Evidence From Colombia's Peace Agreement

Armed conflict can endanger natural resources through several channels such as direct predation from fighting groups, but it may also help preserve ecosystems by dissuading extractive economic activities through the fear of extortion. The effect of conflict on deforestation is thus an empirical question. This paper studies the effect on forest cover of Colombia’s recent peace negotiation between the government and the FARC insurgency. Using yearly deforestation data from satellite images and a difference-in-differences identification strategy, we show that areas controlled by FARC prior to the declaration of a permanent ceasefire experienced a differential increase in deforestation after the start of the ceasefire. The deforestation effect of peace is attenuated in municipalities with higher state presence and judicial capacity, and is exacerbated by land intensive economic activities. Our results highlight the importance of complementing peacemaking milestones with state building efforts to avoid environmental damage.

Introduction

Introduction

Who Wants Violence? The Political Economy of Conflict and State Building in Colombia

Enduring violent conflict is the flip side of the coin of a weak state. In this article, I propose some political economy underpinnings for the persistence of conflict (and the weak state). Focusing on the case of Colombia, I discuss three broad sets of mechanisms that are also relevant elsewhere. First, a goods implies that a low supply of public goods (including security and order) produces a low demand for public goods, and vice versa. This trap is grounded on, and reproduces, political and economic inequality. Second, conflict and a weak state create economic and political rents, producing vested interests in the status quo. I argue that political rents are a particularly strong obstacle, partly because reformers face a sort of curse of dimensionality: many things have to work well for state capacity and stable peace to consolidate. Politically powerful groups take advantage of any weak spot to defend their rents, producing countervailing negative effects following state building efforts. Finally, the very clientelistic pattern of political exchange in many societies consolidates a weak state, and weak states are fertile ground for clientelism to flourish. This vicious circle of clientelism and state weakness is another reason for persistence. I conclude discussing some lessons for reformers, though the very nature of the argument implies that there are no easy recipes for success.

Planetary Modernisms: Provocations on Modernity Across Time by Susan Stanford Friedman

Reviewed by: Planetary Modernisms: Provocations on Modernity Across Time by Susan Stanford Friedman Matthew Eatough Susan Stanford Friedman. Planetary Modernisms: Provocations on Modernity Across Time. New York: Columbia UP, 2015. xii + 451 pp. Susan Stanford Friedman’s name has become synonymous with the move to broaden modernist studies’ spatial and temporal borders, and Planetary Modernisms: Provocations on Modernity Across Time is her most sustained statement yet on the promises and pitfalls of the global turn in modernist studies. Part manifesto, part definitional excursus, and part cultural history, the volume asks readers to consider how modernism’s global turn has revolutionized the field of modernist studies. What periodizing concepts, geographic scales, and aesthetic criteria, Friedman wonders, allow us to see modernism on a truly global scale? And to what extent do such new lenses challenge our conventional understandings of what it means to be modernist? Friedman’s answer to these questions can be summed up in a simple yet bold claim: modernism is “the aesthetic dimension of any given modernity” (x) and can be found in any time and place where “transformational rupture and rapid change” occur (ix). From this deceptively straightforward premise, Friedman makes a case for radically expanding modernist studies’ field of focus. Rather than identify the term “modernism” with a particular style that first emerged in early twentieth-century Europe, Friedman insists we should instead see modernism as a general label for any and all “innovative representational forms” (11). Such a move would open up the field of modernism to not only those so-called late postcolonial modernisms that have helped to globalize the discipline in recent years but also to art and literature from well before the period of high modernism. Indeed, Friedman suggests that for modernism to be truly “planetary,” we need to be able to recognize how the more familiar modernism of early twentieth-century Europe is anticipated by a number of other modernist projects—for example, the art and literature of Tang dynasty China, the Islamic Abbasid caliphate, and the Mongol empire, among others. Friedman’s project hinges on two radical interventions. First, Friedman joins her name to a long list of historians, sociologists, and anthropologists who theorize modernity as a “multiple, polycentric” phenomenon (10). In contrast to the classical definition of modernity, which identifies this term with the contemporaneous rise of capitalism, secularism, imperialism, and the nation-state in post-1500 Europe, such thinkers point out that many non-Western cultures have exhibited characteristics similar to those found in Western modernity. This is a line of thinking Friedman explores in chapters 3 and 4 of her book, [End Page 172] which survey a number of non-Western modernities: the Islamic and Sinocentric world-systems that dominated global commerce prior to the rise of the West, the imperial state-building efforts of the Chinese Tang and Song dynasties, and the cultural mixings brought about by the spread of the Mongol empire. These examples suggest to Friedman that modernity has never been the sole possession of the West and that any identification of the West with modernity is a purely “ideological” move that attempts to transform a particular culture into a universal model (93). Friedman then uses this historical narrative to draw an even more provocative conclusion: if modernity is a plural phenomenon that erupts in multiple times and places across human history, couldn’t modernism itself be treated in a similar fashion? Just as global historians provincialize European modernity by reimagining it as one modernity among many, could we not reimagine “’high’ or ‘avant-garde’ modernism as one articulation of a particularly situated modernism—an important modernism but not the measure by which all others are judged and to which all others must be compared” (70)? It should be emphasized that Friedman’s use of the word “modernism” here is at odds with the more familiar use of the term in modernist studies, where it traditionally functions as a label for a specific cultural period or literary style. What Friedman appears to be most interested in examining in Planetary Modernisms is the cultural capital that has accrued to the term, such that modernism has often been idealized as the epitome of “modern” art and...

The Perils of Top-Down State Building: Evidence from Colombia's False Positives

How should a state which lacks the monopoly of violence go about acquiring it? We investigate the use of high-powered incentives for members of the Colombian army as part of a strategy to combat left-wing guerillas and build the state's monopoly of violence. We show that this top-down state-building effort produced several perverse side effects. Innocent civilians were killed and misrepresented as guerillas (a phenomenon known in Colombia as `false positives'). Exploiting the fact that Colombian colonels have stronger career concerns and should be more responsive to such incentives, we show that there were significantly more false positives during the period of high-powered incentives in municipalities where a higher share of brigades were commanded by colonels and in those where checks coming from civilian judicial institutions were weaker. We further find that in municipalities with a higher share of colonels, the period of high-powered incentives coincided with a worsening of local judicial institutions and the security situation, with more frequent attacks not just by the guerillas but also by paramilitaries.

State effects and the effects of state building: institution building and the formation of state-centred societies

This article discusses the assumptions underlying state-building efforts and the effects of these efforts. It addresses two main questions: why has state building not led to the establishment of effective states? And what are the effects of statebuilding? It is argued that these efforts have been based on an institutionalist model of the state derived from a Weberian framework, and that the basic reason why state building has failed is that the creation of effective states requires the creation of state-centred societies, where both material and symbolic resources are concentrated in the state. This is very difficult to achieve for external actors. But, although state building has not achieved the kinds of effects associated with effective states, it has nevertheless had significant effects. These include, first, accentuating the patrimonialism which has led to state weakness in the first place; second, reductions in national sovereignty as external actors’ substantial influence on policy agendas renders the state itself subject to control and regulation by actors external to it; and, third, perpetuating the idea of the state, while undermining the possibility of creating actual states which conform to this idea.

Impulses from the Arab Spring on the Palestinian State-Building Process

This paper aims at assessing the Arab Spring's impact on the Palestinians, in particular in their quest for statehood and their state-building efforts, with particular emphasis on relevant constitutional law and institutions. While it may be impossible to measure the impact of an incomplete process of change in the Arab world on an incomplete statehood, it is possible to identify certain impacts the Arab Spring is having on Palestine. In this paper I will analyze certain steps and actions undertaken by the PA and by the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip in light of (or at least since) the beginning of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions in late 2010 and early 2011, respectively.

Jubaland: Somalia’s new security dilemma and state-building efforts

The creation of a buffer state aimed at providing a political and security zone is normally the initiative of powerful states within the region it is being established. Globalization has, however, placed buffer states at the centre of the new security dilemma creating national and transnational security risks that adversely impact on the capacity of neighbouring states to effectively perform their basic functions. The establishment of Somalia’s newest semi-autonomous region Jubaland, perceived as Kenya’s buffer zone, has created a new security dilemma for Somalia. This article examines the relationship between the creation of Jubaland and the national and transnational security risks it poses for Somalia’s state capacity building efforts. The mutually related national and transnational security risks examined emanate from the adverse effects of Somali clan/militia conflicts and Kenya Defence Forces operations in Jubaland as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia. These security risks have adversely impacted on state capacity and state autonomy hence hindering the ability of the collapsed Somali state to re-build itself and effectively provide political-military security.

Development Journalism and Its Potential Contribution to The State Building: The Case of Somalia

Development aspect is a key target and agenda for all governments in the world. The concept embraces different facets of development including political, social, economic, infrastructure, societal, environmental, and intellectual aspects. Numerous factors contribute to the achievement of the above goals. Among these is a communication policy factor; an effective and comprehensive policy can help the state accelerate development success rate. In underdeveloped countries, the mass media play an essential role in mediating the development in the country. Systematic and comprehensive communication policies are greatly needed in these countries compared to developed and developing countries. In Somalia, where there was no effective and functioning state since 1990s, the need for such policies is great. The country has been in chaotic and unstable political situation, where the media has negatively contributed to hostility and conflict. In this paper, the author discusses the concept of development journalism and its evolution and relevance particularly to the newly independent states in Asia and Africa since 1960s. Although some people may argue that, the concept is out of date; this author believes that it is more relevant in today’s current political dilemma in Somalia. The paper provides numerous rationales for adopting the development journalism and how it can contribute to the state building efforts. Implications for policy and decision-makers were also discussed along these lines. For media practitioners, the paper recommends to follow peace journalism when covering tribal and political conflicts and to fully participate in current development projects.

Between War and Water: Farmer, City, and State in China's Yellow River Flood of 1938–1947

This article examines how the catastrophic Yellow River flood of 1938–1947 impacted rural communities and state-society relations in the inundated area. The flood, which occurred when China’s Nationalist government deliberately breached a major Yellow River dike in a desperate attempt to use flooding to slow the advance of the Japanese Imperial Army, turned millions of Chinese farmers into refugees and killed over eight hundred thousand people. This essay explores the human and social sides of the flood through the eyes of local observers, missionaries, and the wartime Chinese media. It compares rural and urban experiences of the disaster and examines local perspectives on the efficacy of the flood relief projects organized by the Chinese government. This paper finds that while the wartime Nationalist state did not abandon the inundated area, its state-building efforts there exhausted and disillusioned flood refugees rather than integrating them more fully into the modern nation state.

The European Union’s state-building efforts in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

1990’lı yıllar boyunca Balkanlar’daki çatışmalar, geleneksel diplomasi, barışı koruma ve insani yardım çerçevesinde ele alınmıştır. Bu doğrultuda, devlet kapasitesinin güçlendirilmesi, bölgedeki istikrar için anahtar olarak görülmüştür. Avrupa Birliği AB 2000’li yıllarda bölgenin dönüşümünde temel aktör haline gelirken, Birliğin devlet inşası siyaseti, kurumsal yeteneklerin inşası yoluyla devleti güçlendirmeyi hedeflemiştir. Bununla birlikte, devletin sosyo-politik bağlaşma düzeyinin, dışarıdan “empoze” edilerek değil, içeride kabul ve inşa edilmesi gerekir. Bu makale, Bosna-Hersek örneğinde devletin güçlendirilmesinin etnik siyasetten çok vatandaş katılımını teşvik eden demokratik bir sistem üzerinden gerçekleşeceğini ileri sürmektedir. Bu çalışma, AB’nin Bosna-Hersek’teki devletinşa çabalarını eleştirel bir tutumla analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır

The New Project for the Middle East: From US Democracy Promotion to ISIL Destruction

The supercilious idea of the United States that, by toppling Saddam Hussein, can rapidly democratize Iraq and unleash a democratic tsunami in the Middle East, has metamorphosed into an apocalypse that swept the core nations of the region. Chaos and destruction became the “manifest destiny” of these peoples and democracy became a dangerous fantasy. The U.S. record of building democracy after invading other countries is mixed at best and the Bush administration’s commitment to state-building efforts in Iraq is doubtful. The United States have failed at developing democracy in the Middle East – which has led to increased instability and anarchy – because U.S. foreign policy has misunderstood the formula for building democracy in the region. The United States is just the latest Western nation to fail in the Middle East. The repercussions of a miscalculated intervention in Iraq were likely to complicate the spread of democracy in the Middle East rather than to promote it. Instead of developing democratic governments in the region the US intervention paved the way for the emergence of more oppressive radical groups that hijacked the reins of power from the legitimate governments and anguished peoples’ lives through acts of terror and bullying. The new paradox that Bush’s neoconservative government created in Iraq and the Middle East has turned a lofty project of democratization into a disaster of destruction. While ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) has seized core leadership positions in Syria, Iraq and other places, it is putting in practice the larger tripartite plan of the disintegration of the Middle East. In the process of establishing the Islamic Caliphate, ISIL is sowing the seeds of its own destruction as the U.S. contemplates increased military action in the Middle East, specifically authorization of military force in Syria. However, if the US desires to preserve American preferential treatment in the region it should reconsider the policies that created so much anarchy.

Bad Medicine

By all accounts, the post-2001 state-building effort in Afghanistan failed to deliver on its promise. Rather than blame politicians, insurgency, or obdurate customary authority, this article suggests the constitutional principles upon which the state was constructed ultimately undermined the state itself. In an attempt to address the enormous human suffering in Afghanistan, the 2004 Constitution proclaimed a vast array of positive rights to be implemented by an extremely centralized state apparatus. Yet this vision, in which individuals should look to the state as a source of individual and community well-being, is dramatically out of step with a reality in which individuals neither trusts the centralized state, nor relies on it for many public goods. For many Afghans, the notion of well-being is tied to independence from the state. An alternative state-building vision, one that appreciates a constitutional order stressing negative rights and recognizes the virtues of self-governance, would have resonated much more deeply with a society that has been served by chronically weak governments. This article uses evidence from an original nationally-representative survey and field interviews to illustrate the disjuncture between a self-governing society in which individuals strive for limited government and a state-building ‘antidote’ that offers up a very different medicine. The essay concludes by explaining why a more limited and politically bounded state-building approach, especially in rural areas, may be an important alternative to promote citizen well-being.