Governance Under Anarchy? Effective and Legitimate in Areas of Limited Statehood

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

Areas of limited statehood in which central state institutions are too weak to be able to implement and enforce decisions (“the law”) and/or lack a monopoly over the means of violence are ubiquitous in the contemporary international system. Yet, and in contrast to what the literature on failed or fragile states argues, areas of limited statehood are neither ungovernable nor ungoverned. Rather, we find an enormous variety of governance, understood as both rule-making and the provision of public services. “Governors” include state (e.g. international organizations, aid agencies, and the like) as well as non-state actors (companies, rebel groups, NGOs, “traditional” leaders, etc.). The book manuscript to be discussed and co-authored by Tanja A. Börzel and Thomas Risse is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press. The book argues that three factors are crucial for explaining the effectiveness of governance under these conditions: the perceived legitimacy of the governors which bestows a “license to govern” upon them; the institutional design of the governance institutions (“fit for purpose”); and social trust relations among the people which enhances their action capacity and allows them to overcome collective action problems in the absence of a functioning state. The book draws on more than ten years of research covering comparative cases in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia covering a wide array of issue-areas from the rule of law/democracy to security, public health, education, and basic subsistence.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 17: International Collaboration

Chair

• Tanja A. Boerzel Freie Universität Berlin

Presenters

• Thomas Risse Freie Universität Berlin

• Ana Covarrubias El Colegio de México

• Virginia Haufler University of Maryland

• Hyeran Jo Texas A&M University

• David A. Lake University of California, San Diego

• William Reno Northwestern University