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CIAO DATE: 04/04
Volume 3, Number 2, Winter 2003
Foreword (PDF, 2 pages, 34.8 KB)
Weak States and Post-Communist Societies
State Weakness in Post-Communist Countries: the Concept of State Capacity (PDF, 17 pages, 130 KB) by Verena Fritz
This article addresses the issue of state capacity and suggests ways of conceptualising the term to make it more useful for the analysis of post-communist countries. While the state has recently been 'brought back in' to the debate about postcommunist transitions, it still suffers from considerable conceptual vagueness. However, in order to understand why some states are weaker than others, we first need to have a clear grasp of how to assess state capacity. This article deals with three key aspects: first, it touches upon the normative debate about the 'ideal' role of the state and points out how state capacity is related to, as well as conceptually and empirically differentiated from, this normative debate; second, it develops a model of the dual aspect of the state—the state as provider of solutions and the state as source of problems; third, it discusses several options for empirically assessing state capacity. This paper suggests that, rather than a 'strong state', the normative opposite of a 'weak state' might be better termed a 'functional' or 'capable' state—i.e., a state that enables society to respond continuously and dynamically to a changing international environment.
Reinventing the Peasants: Local State Capture in Post-Communist Europe (PDF, 15 pages, 125.6 KB) by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi
This paper takes up a neglected dimension of the social and political life of postcommunist countries, that of rural life. With the resurgence of subsistence farming, on the ashes of communist-era collectivization, features of rural politics, which this paper refers to as 'neo-dependency', have resurfaced. The entrenched institutional structure of small villages generate certain subjectivities and political behaviors that, in turn, reinforce the institutional structures themselves, in a vicious circle that makes rural reform extremely difficult. After a brief survey of some of the major social scientific approaches to the peasantry, over the course of the twentieth century, this paper outlines a multidisciplinary approach to the problem. The paper presents comparative data on peasant voting behavior and political opinions as well as an anthropological case study, based on fieldwork in two very different Romanian villages. Based on this analysis, the paper presents a model of local state capture, based on the persistence of communist-era local power brokers. In many cases, the very same communist-era officials control local access to resources, placing them at the center of patronage networks—as 'gate-keepers'—that cut the populations of small villages off from any contact with the political and social life of the more modern cities. The democratization of the countryside is of paramount importance to the success of many postcommunist countries, and understanding the agrarian sector is a necessary first step in this direction. This paper seeks to make a modest methodological contribution to this monumental task.
EU Accession and the Serbian-Montenegrin Constitutional Charter (PDF, 11 pages, 101 KB) by Jovan Teokarevic
The Constitutional Charter of the Union of Serbia and Montenegro was finally adopted in January 2003, after protracted negotiations involving unprecedented European Union participation. This paper outlines and analyzes some aspects of the Charter agreement in the context of prospective EU enlargement. It suggests that the EU enlargement context determined the negotiating process and the resulting document to such an extent that, in the end, they came to resemble the EU integration model more than that of state formation or constitutionalization in the classical sense. The EU's leverage over the negotiating parties was based primarily on the latter's overriding desire to return to the embrace of the international community. However, the paper goes on to examine in considerable detail the nature and extent of the EU's involvement in the negotiation process, determining that it was so far-reaching as to call the future viability of the resulting constitutional arrangement into question. Indeed, the paper concludes, the EU will have to be engaged to an extraordinary degree in its day-to-day workings for years to come, to give the nascent Union state even a chance of survival.
PolSci Papers
The Right to Rebel: the National Liberation Army and the 'Macedonian Crisis' of 2001 (PDF, 19 pages, 119.8 KB) by Zidas Daskalovski
Hailed as an exemplary case of successful inter-ethnic cooperation, Macedonia surprised many analysts and diplomats when it nearly plunged into full-blown civil war, in the spring and summer of 2001. The previously unknown 'National Liberation Army', or NLA, perpetrated a seven-month armed insurrection against the Macedonian government (from February to August, 2001). The aim of this paper is to answer the question of whether the NLA had a just case to rebel against the Macedonian authorities. In order to address this question, this article presents a normative account of the circumstances under which one has a moral right to the use of violence for political ends. The article confronts this account with an analysis of the significant socio-political developments in Macedonia from its independence in 1991 to the crisis of 2001. Macedonia is a good case study because it is a prime example of a multiethnic country, riddled with democratization problems. The present investigation unequivocally concludes that the NLA had no moral right to rebel and that its 2001 insurgency was unjustifiable. It is argued that, although it was not a perfect example of liberal democracy, Macedonia certainly had not violated the rights of its citizens to the extent sufficient to warrant armed rebellion.
The European Citizenship Concept and Enlargement of the Union (PDF, 27 pages, 162.7 KB) by Dimitry Kochenov
The development of the EU citizenship concept within the current boundaries of the Union is incompatible with some of the terms of enlargement, namely the policy of transition periods, outlined in the Act of Accession. While the ECJ has tried to interpret EU citizenship as a 'fundamental status', the 2003 Act of Accession introduces limitations on the freedom of movement—a core citizenship right—thus undermining the European citizenship concept and the idea of equality for all Europeans. Unfortunately, this situation is made possible by the wording of Article 18 EC itself, which allows for conditions, thus opening the door for the creation of 'second class' citizens. This paper argues that the most recent enlargement offered an opportunity to bring about a new understanding of equality at the European level and give real meaning to the European citizenship concept, completing rather than undermining the achievements of the ECJ, and taking into account the lessons of previous enlargements. In light of this, the Articles of Accession represent a missed opportunity.
PolSci Book Reviews
Marian Zulean: Armata şi societatea în tranziţie (PDF, 3 pages, 78.7 KB) reviewed by Mihaela Oglice
Thomas Carothers: 'Promoting Democracy and Fighting Terror' and Paula J. Dobriansky & Thomas Carothers: 'Democracy Promotion' (PDF, 3 pages, 77.6 KB) reviewed by Emanuel Răuţă