A Formal Model of Coercive State Building

• In Event: Formal Theories of Violence and Extremism

Abstract

I propose a formal approach of modern state building in developing countries based on two propositions. First, state-sponsored and politically motivated violence shape how citizens interact with the state. Second, descendants of survivors who were exposed to more violence are more likely to feel hostile towards the state. In the formal model, state capacity is determined as a result of the strategic interactions between tax-collecting central elite and tax-paying masses during the modern state building efforts. The type of this interaction, i.e. resistance and repression levels, determines people's attitudes toward the state as well as state's tax revenues. While tax revenues indicate state capacity in the short term, people's persisting negative or positive attitudes influence state capacity in the long term.

Author

• Ipek T. Bahceci