State Capacity Redux: Integrating Classical and Experimental Contributions to an Enduring Debate

Posted: 17 Jun 2018

See all articles by Elissa Berwick

Elissa Berwick

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Political Science

Fotini Christia

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Political Science

Date Written: May 2018

Abstract

What state capacity is and how to strengthen it remain open questions, as the underlying incentives of the state, its citizens, and its agents align in some areas of state activity and diverge in others. This article lays out a framework that integrates classical and experimental approaches within a common theoretical structure based on the diverse capacity challenges states face with respect to extraction, coordination, and compliance. Addressing each in turn, we show that state capacity is an interactive process, the product of institutions governing relations between the state, mass publics, and bureaucrats. We argue that the institutions ensuring capacity and the processes that bring them into being vary. Our review highlights trends in recent research, as well as relevant differences in opportunities for and obstacles to empirical work on the subject.

Suggested Citation

Berwick, Elissa and Christia, Fotini, State Capacity Redux: Integrating Classical and Experimental Contributions to an Enduring Debate (May 2018). Annual Review of Political Science, Vol. 21, pp. 71-91, 2018, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3197105 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-072215-012907

Elissa Berwick (Contact Author)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Political Science ( email )

77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
United States

Fotini Christia

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Political Science ( email )

77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
United States

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