The Regional Dimension of Statebuilding Interventions

Abstract

In the post-Cold War era, liberal statebuilding interventions have become a major tool of global governance. Yet, the variation in outcomes is still poorly understood. This article draws on state formation theory to elaborate a causal mechanism that can explain the successful monopolization of the means of violence in statebuilding interventions. Insights from the state formation literature suggest that the regional political system is crucial for state formation and statebuilding. In order to test the hypothesis, a novel process-tracing method is applied to the case of Sierra Leone. The case study suggests that only a cooperative regional setting enables interventions to succeed.

Integrating Cross-case Analyses and Process Tracing in Set-Theoretic Research

“…2). In contrast to biology, where it is common to conceptualize mechanisms as systems of interlocking entities and activities, it is only recently that scholars have begun adopting this within the social sciences (see Beach 2018; Brast 2015; Casal Bértoa 2017; Jepsen 2013). However, there are empirical studies that formulate mechanisms in terms that come close to productive continuity, for example, by creating detailed path diagrams which broadly resemble the logic behind the systems perspective of mechanisms (Goertz and Mahoney 2005; Mello 2012).…”

“…However, there are empirical studies that formulate mechanisms in terms that come close to productive continuity, for example, by creating detailed path diagrams which broadly resemble the logic behind the systems perspective of mechanisms (Goertz and Mahoney 2005; Mello 2012). As an example that follows the template of mechanisms as systems, Brast develops a mechanism linking cooperation of key regional states with the international intervening actors ( X ) with the outcome Y of successfully building the capacity of a government to hold a monopoly on violence in a country (2015). The mechanism linking X and Y is illustrated in Figure 1.…”