Everyday forms of state formation

The concept of everyday forms of state formation is one that has its basis in an ethnographic approach to the presence of the state in marginal areas, looking at both the strategies of the state to assert itself and at the responses of the local population.

At the fringes of state presence, in areas where it has been historically ‘fragile’ (refer to this concept for look at the use of ‘fragile’ to describe states) or which are emerging from conflict, there is an opportunity to see the dynamics that accompany the processes of state formation: {“Processes of state formation include a renegotiation and reworking of the presence, governing capacity and meaning of the state and particular state actors.” (1) It is the material and symbolic strategies of state actors and the responses or resistance of the population leading to new institutional arrangements and identities that are referred to as ‘everyday forms of state formation’. This concept comes from Everyday forms of state formation (1994) edited by Joseph and Nugent: “Looking at everyday processes of state formation thus means looking at how actors in specific localities are impacted by and react to efforts of state actors to re-order social, political and economic life”. (2)

According to van der Haar if everyday state formation is about actors in specific localities, we can consider local government to be part of the fringes of the state: it is the lowest tier of state endorsed structure; where ‘state’ and ‘society’ meet and interact; and finally as the site where an ethnographic approach to state formation would show us the actions and strategies which affect the legitimacy and functioning of the state from below. We can also see the importance of local government to state formation through the fact that state-building in the emergence from conflict often has a focus on the local government level. (3)

This concept of everyday state formation reflects a bottom up approach to governance and the state, as it concentrates on the interactions of society and the state at the level of local governance. A different perspective might emphasise the importance of state-society interactions at a different level, and contest the centrality accorded to the ‘local’ within this concept.

Example

Examples of how everyday state formation works can be drawn from every place where the state has to go through the process of asserting itself in a particular locality. One of these is the case of post-conflict state rebuilding in East Timor. In this case there was a democratisation process where the Transitional Administration was in control after the pro-independence vote in 1999, conducted civic education programmes, and created local elections. The way that people choose their new leaders and voted was however more based on traditional notions of legitimacy tempered by the newer importance of participation in the anti-Indonesian resistance: ”The establishment of a multi-party system, independence, and democracy, were all understood and used in accordance with the local paradigm”. (4) This case is extreme in that it shows the interaction not just of the state with society, but of the international community and the local, and shows the importance of state formation in the everyday.

Sources

• Van der Haar, G. (2010) ‘State formation in dispute: Local governance as an arena in Chiapas, Mexico’ in Rethinking the state: Understanding the processes of post-crisis state transformation Bruylant: Brussels.

• Hohe, T. (2000) ‘The Clash of Paradigms: International Administration and Local Political Legitimacy in East Timor’ in Contemporary South East Asia 24:3.

• Joseph, G.M and D Nugent (ed.s) (1994) Everyday forms of state formation Durham & London: Duke University Press.

Notes

• (1) : Van der Haar, (2009) State formation in dispute: Local governance as an arena in Chiapas, Mexico in.

• (2) : Van der Haar, (2009) State formation in dispute: Local governance as an arena in Chiapas, Mexico in.

• (3) : Van der Haar, (2009) State formation in dispute: Local governance as an arena in Chiapas, Mexico in.

• 4) : p584, Hohe, (2000) The Clash of Paradigms: International Administration and Local Political Legitimacy in East Timor

• This concept definition was developed as a result of the work carried out in the international conference Post-crisis state transformation: Rethinking the foundations of the state in Linköping, Sweden held 1-5 May 2009. This conference was run by Modus Operandi in collaboration with the Université Pierre Mendès France (Grenoble, France) and the European Science Foundation.