When state capacity dissolves: Explaining variation in violent conflict and conflict moderation
When state capacity dissolves, we ordinarily assume that violent conflict will break out, and then spiral toward a high degree of intensity. However, this is not always the case. Rather, on occasion, states suffer a sharp and severe loss of capacity, but little or no collective violence follows. And...
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| Format: | Journal article |
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Cambridge University Press
2017
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| _version_ | 1797080087587192832 |
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| author | Gledhill, J |
| author_facet | Gledhill, J |
| author_sort | Gledhill, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | When state capacity dissolves, we ordinarily assume that violent conflict will break out, and then spiral toward a high degree of intensity. However, this is not always the case. Rather, on occasion, states suffer a sharp and severe loss of capacity, but little or no collective violence follows. And, on other occasions, violent conflict erupts, but that conflict does not escalate into civil war; rather, it plateaus, and then recedes. This article offers an analytic framework for explaining such variation in the presence, absence, and intensity of violent conflict following a dissolution of state capacity. I argue that the strength of state and societal organs prior to a loss of state capacity shapes the broad trajectory of violence after such a loss. In making that claim, I associate three state-society dynamics before state dissolution with three levels of violent conflict, post-dissolution. Drawing on multi-country fieldwork, I illustrate the proposed framework by presenting three, diverse cases of dissolving state capacity and conflict: Georgia (1991-93), Albania (1991-92), and Yemen (2011-13). |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:55:08Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:87cc0864-54e9-496d-9b39-bea3bb3d1b95 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:55:08Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:87cc0864-54e9-496d-9b39-bea3bb3d1b952022-03-26T22:12:56ZWhen state capacity dissolves: Explaining variation in violent conflict and conflict moderationJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:87cc0864-54e9-496d-9b39-bea3bb3d1b95Symplectic Elements at OxfordCambridge University Press2017Gledhill, JWhen state capacity dissolves, we ordinarily assume that violent conflict will break out, and then spiral toward a high degree of intensity. However, this is not always the case. Rather, on occasion, states suffer a sharp and severe loss of capacity, but little or no collective violence follows. And, on other occasions, violent conflict erupts, but that conflict does not escalate into civil war; rather, it plateaus, and then recedes. This article offers an analytic framework for explaining such variation in the presence, absence, and intensity of violent conflict following a dissolution of state capacity. I argue that the strength of state and societal organs prior to a loss of state capacity shapes the broad trajectory of violence after such a loss. In making that claim, I associate three state-society dynamics before state dissolution with three levels of violent conflict, post-dissolution. Drawing on multi-country fieldwork, I illustrate the proposed framework by presenting three, diverse cases of dissolving state capacity and conflict: Georgia (1991-93), Albania (1991-92), and Yemen (2011-13). |
| spellingShingle | Gledhill, J When state capacity dissolves: Explaining variation in violent conflict and conflict moderation |
| title | When state capacity dissolves: Explaining variation in violent conflict and conflict moderation |
| title_full | When state capacity dissolves: Explaining variation in violent conflict and conflict moderation |
| title_fullStr | When state capacity dissolves: Explaining variation in violent conflict and conflict moderation |
| title_full_unstemmed | When state capacity dissolves: Explaining variation in violent conflict and conflict moderation |
| title_short | When state capacity dissolves: Explaining variation in violent conflict and conflict moderation |
| title_sort | when state capacity dissolves explaining variation in violent conflict and conflict moderation |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gledhillj whenstatecapacitydissolvesexplainingvariationinviolentconflictandconflictmoderation |