Effective Governance Under Anarchy Institutions, Legitimacy, and Social Trust in Areas of Limited Statehood

Policy makers and academics alike have mistakenly promoted an agenda which takes well-governed democratic and consolidated 'Weberian' states as the model for the world and the goal of development programs. Whilst Western industrial democracies are the exception, areas of limited statehood where state institutions are weak and ineffective, are everywhere, and, this books argues, can still be well-governed. Three factors explain effective governance in areas of limited statehood: Fair and transparent institutions 'fit for purpose,' legitimate governors accepted by the people, and social trust among the citizens. Effective and legitimate governance in the absence of a functioning state is not only provided by international organizations, foreign aid agencies, and non-governmental organizations but also by multi-national companies, rebel groups and other violent non-state actors, 'traditional' as well as religious leaders, and community-based organizations. Börzel and Risse base their argument on empirical findings from over a decade of research covering Latin America, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia.

1. Introduction: the world is not Denmark!; Part I. Setting the Stage: Concepts and Theories: 2. Areas of limited statehood and governance: concepts and measurements; 3. Theorizing governance in areas of limited statehood; Part II. Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood: Empirical Evidence: 4. Who, why, and how? actors and modes of governance; 5. Security; 6. Human rights, rule of law, and democracy; 7. Welfare; 8. Conclusions; 9. References.

Tanja A. Börzel is professor of political science and holds the chair for European Integration at the Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin. She is the author of Why Noncompliance: The Politics of Law in the European Union (Cornell, 2020) and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Governance and Limited Statehood (2018).
Thomas Risse holds the chair of international relations at the Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin. He is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Governance and Limited Statehood (2018) and of The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism (2016).