This volume deals with recent changes in state domination in the non-Western world. It develops a new approach to the study of state formation and state erosion to explain dynamics that neither follow the pathways of development nor the rule of stagnation that dependency theory once suggested.

Develops an approach to the study of state formation and state erosion to explain dynamics that neither follow the pathways of development nor the rule of stagnation that dependency theory once suggested. This book focuses on the historical authenticity of states and their institutional frameworks.

'This remarkable collection of essays brings together an international group of scholars dealing with...the state in the global South. The book presents cutting-edge research on the very different trajectories which post-colonial state formation has taken. The authors engage in current debates about failed states, state decay and the privatization of violence...This is refreshing reading for anyone interested in the most pressing questions of global politics in our time.' Dr Dietrich Jung, Danish Institute for International Studies, Denmark