coalitions of elites capturing rents from the society while limiting access of ordinary people. A feature of natural states …, whether fragile, basic or mature, is that organisations in the society are unable to exist and function independently of the … any prospect of conceiving civil society independently of the state. Being so heavily aid dependent in the recent past …

or social relations. At the other are despotic states which dominate civil society. Yet there are others which are locked … into an ongoing competition with civil society and it is these, not the despotic ones, that develop the greatest capacity …) and civil society (representing non-elite citizens), where both players can invest to increase their power. The model …