7 - Welfare

Summary

Chapter 7 deals with welfare governance concerning health, education, food security, and environmental protection in areas of limited statehood. The provision of collective goods and services with regard to welfare is possible “under anarchy” and under rather adverse conditions of civil war. The chapter covers a wide variety of actors – from IOs and foreign donors to (multinational) companies, multi-stakeholder partnerships, (I)NGOs, violent non-state actors, and “traditional” authorities. We find that most governors are able to provide effective governance services. Recent studies demonstrate that foreign aid improves local conditions, thereby contributing to increased state legitimacy. The contributions of business and VNSA to effective welfare governance is more circumscribed. Business as governors will step in as subsidiary service providers as long as nobody else is providing governance. As to VNSA, legitimacy needs lead them to provide effective welfare governance. However, the circle from effective governance to output legitimacy is likely to be disrupted by their opponents, e.g. by state actors fighting them. Effective welfare governance depends on two scope conditions: the absence of large-scale violence and at least some degree of public security, on the one hand, and a minimum infrastructure (such as roads and electricity), on the other.