The role of the state in nineteenth-century Spanish economy has been very controversial and has generally received negative judgments. This article tries to evaluate the intervention in the regulation of rice cultivation. Justified against malaria, this regulation encountered great difficulties...

This paper critically discusses the discourse on fragile and failing states and reviews current debates about state-building. The authors argue for an alternative conceptualization of states emerging from hybrid political orders. Hybrid political orders combine elements of the introduced Western...

A number of proposals today support a substantial increase in foreign aid levels to sub-Saharan Africa even though this region already receives a historically unprecedented volume of aid. This essay reviews the evidence regarding the potentially negative effects of aid dependence on state...

The main approach of this study of globalisation is historical. We look at three periods in world history when the most promising and enduring civilisation was overtaken by the less promising one. A simple model is proposed to make sense out of the tremendous shift. Subsequently we use the...

Understanding how to rebuild resilient states in postconflict countries is an urgent priority for the international community. A new cross-country study of public financial management reforms in postconflict situations shows that substantial progress is possible even in difficult circumstances,...

This paper evaluates transformative policy innovations with respect to security and taxation in the three main Colombian cities: Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali. In the first two, such policies were associated with huge success. Elsewhere we (Gutiérrez et al. 2009) have tagged these transformation...

Crucial social and cultural elements underpin state institutions and ensure that they function. This is true in any context, but it is even more important to understand and truly acknowledge in fragile ones. Conventional perspectives need to be broadened and need to look at the multiplicity and...

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how regional integration processes may contribute to statebuilding and promote exit from fragility for countries characterised by weak state institutions. After presenting a simple conceptual framework to discuss the effects of external and regional...