In State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century, Francis Fukuyama examines the dangerous threat posed by weak and failed states to world security; He prescribes state building as a solution to this threat. The book is based on a series of lectures he delivered at his alma mater, Cornel University. The book consists of three chapters.
The first chapter discusses the missing dimensions of stateness. He argues that the lack of domestic demand is the biggest barrier to institutional development in developing countries. He adds that domestic demand often comes through crises and revolutions. He provides the Glorious Revolution that leads to the emergency of property rights in England as an example. He asserts that if there is no domestic demand, it should be generated by force or conditionality. The reform won't work if there is no will on the part of elites and politicians. The International NGOs take over the government functions and reduce the government's role to one of coordination.NGOs have more resources than governments and don't involve them in project planning and implementation. The Governments never take ownership of the projects run by the NGOs thus rendering the projects unsustainable. Due to a lack of opportunities, the local civil servants opt to work for NGOs.
He emphasizes the importance of strengthen over the size. The developing countries have big functions but lack the Institutional capacity to plan and execute policies. The push by Donors to narrow the size often lead to a decrease in both scope and strength. The structural adjustment gave neopatrimonial regimes an excuse to cut the basic services while increasing the size of neopatrimonial state. Narrowing the scope of the state and strengthening the capacity gained momentum after the fall of Soviet Union .The neoliberal economists gained the upper hand and their advices to reduce the size of the state were made stringent by IMF and the World Bank to the developing countries.
He notes that the absence of strong institutions led failure to implement economic liberalization properly.He questions the extent the knowledge is transferable from developed countries to developing countries. So far the donors have failed to transfer the knowledge to the third world. In some cases they made the situation worse. The capacity building projects in Africa caused the deterioration of institutions.
He says "Almost every African country has witnessed a systemic retrogression in capacity in the last thirty years; the majority had better capacity at independence than they now possess.(p.53) .He stresses that the norms, values and culture affect the success or failure of institutions. He points out that the attitudes of elite is contingent on the success of institutions. The success of Japan , Korea , and Taiwan had roots in their traditions that extend centuries.
The second chapter discusses in great deal with organizational theory. He argues that organizational theory revolves around delegated discretion." The conundrum of organizational theory is that while efficiency requires the delegation of discretion in decision making and authority, the very act of delegation creates problems of control and supervision ". ( p.59). Fukuyama notes the intractability of creating formal system of monitoring and incentives in public sector.
He argues that public administration is more art than science." Most good solutions to public administration problems, while having certain common features of institutional design, will not be clear-cut "best practices "because they will have to incorporate a great deal of context-specific information .." ( p.58). He underscores that General knowledge of Public Administration should be combined with local knowledge, culture and norms.
The final chapter examines the implications of weak and failed states on international security. He questions the suitability of the Westphalian system at a time many weak and failed states are posing a danger to International Security. He asserts that weak and failed states justify the erosion of the Westphalian sovereignty and territorial integrity. He says sovereignty can be breached if a country is killing its own people or posing a danger to international security. The intervening countries deliver humanitarian relief after the invasion but found it hard to build sustaining institutions after their withdrawal. However, he cites some successful examples of building durable institutions, such as the Indian Civil Service and the legal systems in Singapore and Hong Kong.
The book is very much theoretical and doesn't provide practical solutions to state building; I think that's where it falls short. However, it provides a good foundation for public administration students in the debates of the State Building. For everyone interested in a practical book, I would recommend reading "Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World" by Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart. It provides a practical framework for state building.
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