ECONIS Select – Working Group on Building States and Markets

07/2010

Selected for the Global Economic Symposium 2010

The GES Working Group on State Building will have two related goals: first, to reach consensus on how the international community can best contribute to state building in developing countries; and second, based on that consensus, to propose a series of practical projects that the GES network can undertake.

State building — the strengthening of the legitimacy, robustness, and resilience of the state — has steadily marched up the international community’s agenda in recent years. Unfortunately, however, the most common state-building prescriptions — such as more aid, competitive elections, and economic reform — do not seem to work well in practice. The roots of state fragility lie in the combination of weak social cohesion and feeble state institutions. International action to combat fragility, therefore, should be first and foremost about encouraging institutional changes that foster a stronger sense of unity and a stronger sense of local ownership. Finding the right balance between decentralization and centralization is key, as is the use and development of indigenous capacities. Countries must be given the ability to solve their own problems.

The Working Group will recommend a series of practical, concrete measures that the GES network can take towards this end. Some proposals may focus on developing key “nodes” that promise to have multiplier effects across institutions: for example, establishing organizations that will improve the quality of governance, teaching, administration and management, and law. Other proposals may center on equalizing access to opportunity for the economically and politically disadvantaged and reducing inequities across groups and regions.

Any and all recommendations will be entertained provided they meet two criteria: they can be implemented by the GES network, and their implementation will help make states more inclusive, more cohesive, and more development-oriented.

Literature selected from our database ECONIS:

• Title: State-society relations and intangible dimensions of state resilience and state building: a bottom-up perspective / Béatrice Pouligny
  Corporate body: Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies; GKD-ID: 10001527X
  Published: Badia Fiesolana, San Domenico (Fl), 2010
  Links:
  http://hdl.handle.net/1814/13855
  http://cadmus.iue.it/dspace/bitstream/1814/13854/1/RSCAS_2010_33.pdf
• Title: Nation building, state building, and economic development: case studies and comparisons / S. C. M. Paine, ed.
  Published: New York, NY [u.a.]: Sharpe, 2010
  Subject heading: State formation / Ethnopsychology / Economic development / Developing countries / World
  Link: Table of contents
• Title: Fixing failed states / Ashraf Ghani; Clare Lockhart
  Published: Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press, 2009
  Subject heading: Government failure / National crisis
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Second-best institutions / by Dani Rodrik
  In: The American economic review. - Nashville, Tenn.: American Economic Assoc., ISSN 0002-8282, ZDB-ID 203590x. - Bd. 98.2008, 2, S. 100-104
  Subject heading: Political reform / Institutional change / Good governance / Second best / Welfare effect / Developing countries
• Article: Global-market building as state building: China's entry into the WTO and market reforms of China's tobacco industry / Junmin Wang
  In: Theory and society. - Dordrecht: Springer, ISSN 0304-2421, ZDB-ID 74159. - Bd. 38.2009, 2, S. 165-194
  Subject heading: Tobacco industry / WTO accession / China
• Article: Intergovernmental fiscal relations and state building: the case of Indonesia / Bambang Brodjonegoro and J. Fitz G. Ford
  In: Fiscal fragmentation in decentralized countries. - Cheltenham [u.a.]: Elgar, ISBN 978-1-8454-2402-2. - 2007, S. 320-362
• Title: Rethinking good governance in developing economies: institutions, governance and development in Thailand / André Ufer
  Published: Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2008
  Subject heading: Good governance / Economic policy / Public choice / Economic development / Institutional change / Thailand / 1947-1997
  Link: Table of contents
• Title: Economic democracy through pro-poor growth / ed. by Ponna Wignaraja; Susil Sirivardana; Akmal Hussain
  Corporate body: Russell Sage Foundation
  Published: Los Angeles, Calif. [u.a.]: Sage, 2009
  Subject heading: Economic Growth / Poverty alleviation / Democratization / Sustainable development / Participation / Developing countries / India / Pakistan / Bangladesh
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Free markets and economic development / William Easterly
  In: Poverty reduction and beyond. - Basingstoke, Hampshire [u.a.]: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0-230-21994-2. - 2009, S. 13-56
  Subject heading: Low-income countries / Development Aid / Development strategy / Economic liberalism / Developing countries
• Article: Institutions: top down or bottom up? / by William Easterly
  In: The American economic review. - Nashville, Tenn.: American Economic Assoc., ISSN 0002-8282, ZDB-ID 203590x. - Bd. 98.2008, 2, S. 95-99
  Subject heading: Institutional infrastructure / Institutional change / Developing countries
• Title: Reinventing foreign aid / ed. by William Easterly. Foreword by Nancy Birdsall
  Published: Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.]: MIT Press, 2008
  Subject heading: Development Aid / Poverty alleviation / Development finance / Development project / Development strategy / Developing countries
  Links:
  Table of contents
  http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0715/2007013993.html
• Article: Institutional changes and organizational transformation in developing economies : introduction to the special issue / Preet S. Aulakh, Masaaki Kotabe
  In: Journal of international management. - New York, NY: Elsevier, ISSN 1075-4253, ZDB-ID 12854682. - Bd. 14.2008, 3, S. 209-216
  Subject heading: Institutional change / Privatization / Deregulation / Developing countries
• Title: Afghanistan - state building, sustaining growth, and reducing poverty / The World Bank
  Corporate body: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
  Published: Washington, D.C., 2005
  Subject heading: War damage / |stw| Supreme power / |stw| Public Administration / |stw| Separation of powers / |stw| Economic Growth / |stw| Poverty alleviation / |stw| Economic assistance / |stw| Afghanistan
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: State building without sovereignty: the Somaliland Republic / Tabea Zierau
  In: Mondes en développement. - Bruxelles: Ed. de Boek, ISSN 0302-3052, ZDB-ID 1851159. - Bd. 31.2003, 123, S. 57-62
  Subject heading: Sovereignty / |stw| Government system / |stw| Public Revenues / |stw| Somalia
• Title: Prosperity and violence: the political economy of development / Robert H. Bates
  Published: New York, NY [u.a.]: Norton, c 2010
  Subject heading: Economic development / Development Policy / State formation / History / Development Theory / Democratization / Civilization / Theory / World / Developing countries
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: The political economy of state failure / Paul Collier
  In: Oxford review of economic policy. - Oxford: Univ. Press, ISSN 0266-903x, ZDB-ID 857038. - Bd. 25.2009, 2, S. 219-240
  Subject heading: Government failure / Economic development / Public Good / Homeland security / Credibility / Developing countries
• Title: Governance and the depoliticisation of development / ed. by Wil Hout ...
  Published: London [u.a.]: Routledge, 2009
  Subject heading: Global governance / Good governance / Development Policy / Globalization / Liberalism / Developing countries / 1980-2005
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Aid and reform in failing states / Lisa Chauvet and Paul Collier
  In: Asian Pacific economic literature. - Carlton South, Vic.: Blackwell Publ. Asia, ISSN 0818-9935, ZDB-ID 9028754. - Bd. 22.2008, 1, S. 15-24
  Subject heading: Development Aid / Homeland security / Sovereignty / Reform / Good governance / Developing countries / World
• Title: Governance and development in developing countries / K. C. Roy and Biman Prasad, eds.
  Published: New York, NY: Nova Science Publ., c 2007
  Subject heading: Good governance / Economic development / Democratization / Economic Growth / Institutional change / Developing countries
  Link: Table of contents
• Title: Democratization and market reform in developing and transitional countries: think tanks as catalysts / James G. McGann
  Published: London [u.a.] Routledge, 2010
  Subject heading: Democratization / Economic reform / Developing countries / Newly industrializing countries
• Article: Elections and economic policy in developing countries / Lisa Chauvet and Paul Collier
  In: Economic policy. - Oxford: Blackwell, ISSN 0266-4658, ZDB-ID 6228859. - Bd. 59.2009, S. 509-550
  Subject heading: Election / Democratization / Political business cycle / Economic development / Developing countries
• Title: Development poverty and politics: putting communities in the driver's seat / Richard Martin and Ashna Mathema
  Published: New York [u.a.]: Routledge, 2010
  Subject heading: Urban development / Poverty / Poverty alleviation / Settlement / Developing countries
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: The politics of entrapment: parliaments, governance and poverty reduction strategies / Pascale Hatcher
  In: Governance and the depoliticisation of development. - London [u.a.]: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-46567-2. - 2009, S. 123-136
  Subject heading: Global governance / Good governance / Development Policy / Poverty alleviation / Globalization / Developing countries / World Bank Group