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  1. Home
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  3. Undermining the State from Within
  • Cited by 5
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
February 2023
Print publication year:
2023
Online ISBN:
9781009219907
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009219907
Subjects:
Area Studies, Latin American Studies, Politics and International Relations, Latin American Government, Politics and Policy, Comparative Politics
Information

Book description

Undermining the State from Within pulls back the curtain on the counterinsurgent state to better understand how conflict dynamics affect state institutions and continue to shape political and economic development in the postwar period. Drawing on unique archival and interview data from war and postwar Central America, this book illuminates how counterinsurgent actors, under the pretext of combatting an insurgent threat, introduce alternative rules within state institutions, which undermine core activities like tax collection, public security provision, and property administration. Moreover, it uncovers how the counterinsurgent elite outmaneuvers governance reforms during democratic transition and peacebuilding to preserve the predatory wartime status quo. In so doing, this book rethinks the relationship between war and state formation, challenges existing scholarly and policy approaches to peacebuilding and post-conflict institutional reform and contributes a new understanding of what civil war leaves behind in an institutional sense.

Awards

Winner, 2024 Donna Lee Van Cott Award, Latin American Studies Association

Reviews

‘[A] masterful contribution to academic scholarship on legacies of civil war, with crucial implications for peacebuilding and democratic institutional development. It should be read by all academics and policymakers concerned with development in post-conflict settings, as well as scholars with diverse areas of focus.’

Laura R. Blume Source: Perspectives on Politics

‘[A] bold and ambitious book that is both theoretically distinctive and empirically rich. … this study does a monumental job explaining how informal institutional practices develop and persist in diverse postwar contexts, and the challenges associated with bringing about change.’

Rose J. Spalding Source: Journal of Latin American Studies

‘Recommended.’

C. M. Kovic Source: Choice

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