Empire in Denial: The Politics of State-Building
ISBN: 9781849642873
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / Pluto Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Political Science;

This book argues that state-building, as it is currently conceived, does not work.



In the 1990s, interventionist policies challenged the rights of individual states to self-governance. Today, non-western states are more likely to be feted by international institutions offering programmes of poverty-reduction, democratisation and good governance.



States without the right of self-government will always lack legitimate authority. The international policy agenda focuses on bureaucratic mechanisms, which can only institutionalise divisions between the West and the non-West and are unable to overcome the social and political divisions of post-conflict states. Highlighting the dangers of current policy - including the redefinition of sovereignty, and the subsequent erosion of ties linking power and accountability.


hidden image for function call