How to build a State in a non State environment?

[slapout9]

I guess that is as close to the protectorate model I mentioned earlier as you are going to get. But is assumes that there is someone there we are supporting. What happens when there is no one there, do you create them?

Once they win, do you hand them off to State? What promises of support can you make?

All this also seems to assume a level of infrastructure that may not exist elsewhere - something to fight over that we have an interest in. What if our only interest is stability?

I like the principle, its the details that are not working out so well.

It all dependsyour success or failure is going to hinge on the initial and accurate analysis of the social structure of the area in question (old school geography, who owns the land and what do they do with it). How it really is, not how you wish it to be. Special Warfare is an option not a panacea. If your analysis does indicate it is possible then I would say don't do it. That is one of the big problems IMO we keep looking for some master template that we can apply over and over again.

Finding a cause that people are willing to not just fight for but are willing to die for is the real question. If you can find a group like that and support them quietly you may just end up making a few friends instead of a lot of enemies.


You should really watch the series I posted called "More Deadly Than War" to get an overview of the mobilzation process.

[M-A Lagrange]

Coming back to the beginning of the threat, I would like to share this website from OECD:
http://www.oecd.org/site/0,3407,en_2..._1_1_1,00.html

What I found interesting in that particular site is the endorsement of the various governance frames and legitimacy sources in non western countries.
I believe that a good identification of what is the local understanding of local governance (basically what people expect from government, how they can get it and what government provides) is the starting point to be able to file Bob’s matrix.
Once you have this, you may have a starting point.
Naturally, it is set in the context of fragile state therefore; it is assumed that you have some sort of administration running somewhere. But still, the frame they propose is very interest in to understand what is at work in a non state context.
My primary assumption being that as mankind is a political animal, there is a form of governance what so ever at grass root level.

The various reports linked on that site may respond many of the questions raised here. (Not saying they are the bible and cannot be challenged, far from it).
Also, it’s a donor/development agencies oriented work. But still some good stuff in it.

[Fuchs]

"...is dictatorship a necessary path or just the wall we all end up hitting? "

You need either a power advantage OR consent in absence of power asymmetry to organize a democratic political process orderly.

The power that organizes a democracy can be foreign troops, of course.


Young democracies often fail (example Weimar Republic) because the society isn't sold on democracy yet, if there's no consensus on democracy ('Republic without republicans.'). To set up of a dictatorship early on doesn't help against this problem at all.


The Afghanistan democracy project failed for several reasons - not the least the entirely unnecessary influx of huge amounts of foreign cash that would have corrupted any form of government.


The consent is ultimately what drives a democracy.
You still need the checks & balances and several precautions to secure a democracy once it's in place, of course.