Statebuilding and State-Formation

What happens when conscious efforts at statebuilding meet social contexts and are transformed into daily routines? This question guides the chapters in a new anthology on Statebuilding and State-Formation published by Routledge. DIIS project researcher Louise Riis Andersen contributes to the book with a study of Liberia.

In her chapter she focuses on the internationally led efforts to curb corruption in Liberia after the end of the civil war. Her analysis suggests that the partnership that was established between the Liberian government and the international community to curb corruption had the paradoxical effect of both controlling and empowering the national government. Instead of establishing transparent links between state and society, the partnership reproduced the formal state's dependency on external support and introduced a strong element of international authority that remained unaccountable to the people of Liberia.

The anthology is edited by Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and published by Routledge as part of its Studies on Intervention and Statebuilding.