Journal of International Affairs articles from September 2004

Journal of International Affairs archives from September 2004

Editors' foreword.
September 22, 2004... States have long been a central unit of analysis for political scientists and a focal point for policy making. But recent trends in world politics have affected our appreciation of the role of the state. What purposes do states serve for us...

Antiquated before they can ossify (1): states that fail before they form.
September 22, 2004... "Today, the international community has the best chance since the rise of the nation-state in the seventeenth century to build a world where great powers compete in peace instead of continually prepare for war. Today, the world's great powers...

State building and the non-nation-state.
September 22, 2004... At three different critical moments of the 20th century, old empires crumbled, producing a spate of new states. In all three of those periods, leaders of newly independent states faced a distinct international environment, each creating its own...

Discourses of denial: silencing the Palestinians, delegitimizing their claims.
September 22, 2004... The following analysis will draw upon critical constructivism and theories of discourse and identity in order to analyze the discursive frames that emerged during the Truman Administration. These frames include the meanings that were attached...

Constitutionalizing democracy in fractured societies.
September 22, 2004... Much as the terms "constitutional" and "democracy" are linked in the definitions of a just liberal society, the two embody antagonistic impulses in organizing the body politic. Democracy vests decisionmaking in majorities; constitutionalism...

Decolonization and state building in South Asia.
September 22, 2004... This article is a retrospective survey and assessment of political development in the three newly independent states of the South Asian subcontinent during their first decade, from 1947 to 1958. Of these, Pakistan gained independence on August...

Reconstructing the Congo.
September 22, 2004... Since 1996, the Congo has been the battleground for wars and wars within wars, involving, at various times, at least nine African countries as direct combatants and many more as military, financial and political supporters of one or the other...

State building in Colombia: getting priorities straight.
September 22, 2004... For many Colombians, the term "state building" provokes considerable discomfort. After all, their country is in many respects highly sophisticated. It is South America's oldest democracy, has flirted only very briefly with military rule (under...

From war economy to peace economy? Reconstruction and state building in Afghanistan.
September 22, 2004... Winning the peace in Afghanistan depends in no small part on international and domestic efforts to transform the war economy into a peace economy. Based on international experience, this is unlikely to happen quickly. In other contexts,...

Institutional development and social policy in Cuba: "the special period".
September 22, 2004... More than four decades of revolution have resulted in Cuba's current institutional order, along with a series of events that marked the stages of its historical course: the establishment of a new political power that emerged from the rebellion...

Why there is no science of public administration.
September 22, 2004... Is public administration a science or an art? The answer to this question matters greatly to state building, because good public administration is key to effective governance. If public administration--the organization and management of...

After Aristide.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2004... These photographs were taken in the weeks following the ouster of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Februarv 29, 2004. While the American militarv intervention quelled a wave of political violence, Aristide and his supporters claimed...

Regional framework for state reconstruction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
September 22, 2004... "The Central African region needs more than 'merely' peace in the DRC. It needs an encompassing structural peace and security that would allow sustainable development to occur in the countries of the region... an international conference on...

An interview with Lakhdar Brahimi.(Interview)
September 22, 2004... LAKHDAR BRAHIMI is the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General and served as the UN Special Envoy in Iraq. Ambassador Brahimi led the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and was entrusted with overall authority for the UN's...

Building a democratic state: is it possible?(State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century )(The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad )(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century Francis Fukuyama Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004, 137 pages. The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad Fareed Zakaria New York: W. W. Norton,...

The unfailing of the State.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... When States Fail: Causes and Consequences Edited by Robert I. Rotberg Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003, 336 pages. State Failure, Collapse & Reconstruction Edited by Jennifer Milliken Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2003,...

And now for the hard part: measuring success in rule of law reform.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... Beyond Common Knowledge: Empirical Approaches to the Rule of Law Edited by Erik G. Jensen and Thomas C. Heller. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003, 464 pages. As the scope and frequency of international development activities...

Taking the state to court: the importance of judicial autonomy in new democracies.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... The Rule of Law in Nascent Democracies: Judicial Politics in Argentina Rebecca Bill Chavez Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004, 288 pages. Argentina's constitution, which was drafted in 1853, is the second oldest in the Western...

Marginalizing multiculturalism.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... Fighting Words: Language Policy and Ethnic Relations in Asia Edited by Michael E. Brownand and Sumit Ganguly Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003, 497 pages. Civilizing the Margins: Southeast Asian Government Policies for the Development of...

The Theory of Social and Economic Organization.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... THE THEORY OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION Max Weber (First published in English, 1947). A true classic is relevant in any age and this volume, which includes Weber's most important theories, remains insightful more than 80 years after...

Political Order in Changing Societies.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... POLITICAL ORDER IN CHANGING SOCIETIES Samuel P. Huntington (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1968), 488 pages. Never a stranger to controversial and sometimes politically unpalatable pronouncements, Huntington argues that...

The Autonomous Power of the State: Its Origins, Mechanisms, and Results.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... THE AUTONOMOUS POWER OF THE STATE: ITS ORIGINS, MECHANISMS, AND RESULTS Michael Mann European Archive of Sociology, (Volume 25, 1984), 185-212. When it comes to defining "the state," competing theoretical schools have all served up their...

Bringing the State Back In.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... BRINGING THE STATE BACK IN edited by Peter B. Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Theda Skocpol (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 384 pages. Almost 20 years ago, a forward-looking pantheon of scholars predicted the importance of...

Strong Societies and Weak States: State-Society Relations and State Capabilities in the Third World.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... STRONG SOCIETIES AND WEAK STATES: STATE-SOCIETY RELATIONS AND STATE CAPABILITIES IN THE THIRD WORLD Joel Migdal (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988), 296 pages. In this work, Joel Migdal critiques the idea that the state is the...

Coercion, Capital and European States Ad 990-1992.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... COERCION, CAPITAL AND EUROPEAN STATES AD 990-1992 Charles Tilly (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1990), 271 pages. In his significant statement on the origins of the modern European state, Charles Tilly emphasizes the importance of...

The Sovereign State and Its Competitors.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... THE SOVEREIGN STATE AND ITS COMPETITORS Hendrik Spruyt (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994), 288 pages. In Spruyt's conception of the sovereign state, a broad and dramatic change in society will encourage realignment among...

Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... SEEING LIKE A STATE: How CERTAIN SCHEMES TO IMPROVE THE HUMAN CONDITION HAVE FAILED James Scott (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998), 445 pages It is easy to understand how human lives are destroyed and communities decimated...

Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... AMBIGUITIES OF DOMINATION: POLITICS, RHETORIC, AND SYMBOLS IN CONTEMPORARY SYRIA Lisa Wedeen (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), 244 pages. Public life in Syria during the 1990s was dominated by the presence of President Hafiz...

States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... STATES AND POWER IN AFRICA: COMPARATIVE LESSONS IN AUTHORITY AND CONTROL Jeffrey Herbst (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000), 280 pages. Herbst broadens the field of comparative analyses of state building and state formation...

Governance through private authority: non-state actors in world politics.(Private Authority and International Affairs )(The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance )(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... Private Authority and International Affairs Edited by A. Claire Cutler, Virginia Haufler and Tony Porter Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999. 398 pages The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance Edited by Rodney...