State Building in Latin America
Author： Hillel David Soifer;
Publisher： Cambridge University Press
Publication year： 2015
E-ISBN: 9781316917619
P-ISBN(Paperback): 9781107107878
P-ISBN(Hardback): 9781107107878
Subject： D034 State institutions;D52 世界政治制度与国家机构
Keyword： 政治、法律
Language： ENG
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Description
State Building in Latin America explores why some countries in the region developed effective governance while others did not. State Building in Latin America explores why some countries in the region developed effective governance, while others did not. The argument focuses on political ideas, economic geography, and public administration to account for the development of public primary education, taxation, and military mobilization in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. State Building in Latin America explores why some countries in the region developed effective governance, while others did not. The argument focuses on political ideas, economic geography, and public administration to account for the development of public primary education, taxation, and military mobilization in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. State Building in Latin America diverges from existing scholarship in developing explanations both for why state-building efforts in the region emerged and for their success or failure. First, Latin American state leaders chose to attempt concerted state-building only where they saw it as the means to political order and economic development. Fragmented regionalism led to the adoption of more laissez-faire ideas and the rejection of state-building. With dominant urban centers, developmentalist ideas and state-building efforts took hold, but not all state-building projects succeeded. The second plank of the book's argument centers on strategies of bureaucratic appointment to explain this variation. Filling administrative ranks with local elites caused even concerted state-building efforts to flounder, while appointing outsiders to serve as administrators underpinned success. Relying on extensive archival evidence, the book traces how these factors shaped the differential development of education, taxation, and conscription in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. Introduction: the origins of state capacity in Latin America; 1. The emergence of state-building projects; 2. A theory of state-building success and failure; 3. Alternative historical explanations and initial conditions; 4. State projects, institutions, and educational development; 5. Political costs, infrastructural obstacles, and tax state development; 6. Local administration, varieties of conscription, and the development of coercive capacity; 7. Conclusion. 'State Building in Latin America can only be described as a magisterial book. Soifer provides both a rich theoretical explanation for why states develop or not and then presents a wealth of data to support his claims. Bringing in the political origins and consequences of bureaucratic recruitment links it to the best work in a Weberian tradition. Important for both those interested in state development and students of the region.' Miguel Angel Centeno, Princeton University, New Jersey 'The biggest obstacle to public goods delivery around the world is not authoritarianism but state weakness. In a model example of comparative-historical social science, Hillel Soifer traces subtle contemporary variations in Latin American state capacity to fascinatingly divergent historical constellations of political geography, ideology, and strategy. Buoyed by original theorizing and buttressed by a wealth of qualitative and quantitative evidence, State Building in Latin America is a book that will last.' Dan Slater, University of Chicago 'This book is a major contribution to our understanding of state-building in Latin America. Soife
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