State capacity

State capacity is the ability of a government to accomplish policy goals, either generally or in reference to specific aims.[1][2][3] A state that lacks capacity is defined as a fragile state or, in a more extreme case, a failed state.[4][5]

There are multiple dimensions of state capacity, as well as varied indicators of state capacity.[6][7] In studies that use state capacity as a causal variable, it has frequently been measured as the ability to tax, provide public goods, enforce property rights, achieve economic growth or hold a monopoly on the use of force within a territory.[8]

Mark Dincecco distinguishes between state capacity (the state's ability to accomplish its intended actions) and "effective statehood" (the political arrangements that enable the state to best accomplish its intended actions).[1] He argues that fiscal centralization and institutional impartiality are key to effective statehood.[1]

State capacity may involve an expansion of the state's information-gathering abilities. In processes of state-building, states began implementing a regular and reliable census, the regular release of statistical yearbooks, and civil and population registers, as well as establishing a government agency tasked with processing statistical information.[9]

See also

Further reading

References
  1. Dincecco, Mark (2017). State Capacity and Economic Development: Present and Past. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1, 15–24. ISBN 978-1-108-33755-7.
  2. Akbar, Nafisa; Ostermann, Susan L. (2015). "Understanding, Defining, and Measuring State Capacity in India: Traditional, Modern, and Everything in Between An Asian Survey Special Issue on India". Asian Survey. 55 (5): 845–861. ISSN 0004-4687.
  3. Brambor, Thomas; Goenaga, Agustín; Lindvall, Johannes; Teorell, Jan (2020-02-01). "The Lay of the Land: Information Capacity and the Modern State". Comparative Political Studies. 53 (2): 175–213. doi:10.1177/0010414019843432. ISSN 0010-4140.
  4. "State Capacity, Conflict, and Development". Econometrica. 78 (1): 1–34. 2010. doi:10.3982/ECTA8073.
  5. Hameiri, Shahar (2007). "Failed states or a failed paradigm? State capacity and the limits of institutionalism". Journal of International Relations and Development. 10 (2): 122–149. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jird.1800120.
  6. Chaudoin, Stephen; Gaines, Brian J.; Livny, Avital (2021). "Survey Design, Order Effects, and Causal Mediation Analysis" (PDF). The Journal of Politics. doi:10.1086/715166. ISSN 0022-3816. Archived from the original on 2021.
  7. Berwick, Elissa; Christia, Fotini (2018). "State Capacity Redux: Integrating Classical and Experimental Contributions to an Enduring Debate". Annual Review of Political Science. 21 (1): 71–91. doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-072215-012907. ISSN 1094-2939.
  8. Suryanarayan, Pavithra (2021-04-12). "State capacity: a useful concept or meaningless pablum?". Broadstreet. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  9. Brambor, Thomas; Goenaga, Agustín; Lindvall, Johannes; Teorell, Jan (2020). "The Lay of the Land: Information Capacity and the Modern State". Comparative Political Studies. 53 (2): 175–213. doi:10.1177/0010414019843432. ISSN 0010-4140.
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