Military Review English Edition January-February 2014 | Page 36

and 1960s people believed, especially in the United
States, that states, as uniquely powerful entities,
would be able to bring development and modernity
to backward populations through policy and planning processes. As such, the Western-ideal-type
state not only had a particular set of characteristics,
it also had a specific economic development agenda.
Yet, states of this type are not universal, nor
do they necessarily represent a stable, peaceful,
equilibrium. A critical examination of states shows
that their functions, structures, and relationships
with the societies vary greatly. J.P. Nettl describes
the state as a “conceptual variable” by identifying four variables with which to compare states:
sovereignty, or the ability of the state to impose its
will; recognition in international affairs; autonomy,
or the existence of a sphere of state affairs distinct
from other social activity; and national sociopolitical consciousness, or popular ascent to the state as
a legitimate social actor.6 Douglass North, John
Wallis, and Barry Weingast compli ment Nettl.7 They
describe “limited access orders,” in which the state

is an arena for elite competition over rents. Because
elites depend on their social networks to compete
with others, states in limited access orders are an
extension of, not autonomous from, society. When
political and economic power align, such states
may nevertheless be stable and peaceful.8 Moreover,
limited access orders historically far outnumber
“open access orders,” which are roughly analogous
to Western liberal democracies. In other words,
the Western-ideal-type sovereign, autonomous,
complex, and internationally recognized state is
an exception.
Joel Migdal describes state capacity in terms
of “capacities to penetrate society, regulate social
relationships, extract resources, and appropriate
or use resources in determined ways.”9 The idealized state monopolizes these functions, rendering
it the sole agent of social control. For Migdal,
social control is a byproduct of coercion-induced
compliance, voluntary participation, and legitimate
or internalized belief in the “rightness” of state
authority. Although the Western-ideal-type state

U.S. and Afghan soldiers deliver school supplies to Aliabad school during a humanitarian mission in Nahr-e Shahi District, Afghanistan, 26 September
2010. The U.S. soldiers are assigned to the 10th Mountain Division, which donated several chalk boards, writing paper, and pencils. (Air Force)
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January-February 2014 MILITARY REVIEW