2017/01/02 by Dominik Balthasar · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Political Conflict and Governance #Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East #Peacebuilding and International Security #State (computer science) #Independence (probability theory) #Identity (music) #Political science #Standardization #Prism #Law #Political economy #Sociology #Criminology
paper · doi:10.1080/13698249.2017.1343411
openalex publication_date 2017/01/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
The role of war in processes of state-making has long been hotly disputed. Although generally considered an African ‘success story’, the case of Somaliland, whose unilateral declaration of independence was embedded in violent conflict, may be instructive. Applying the conceptual prism of ‘rule standardization’, this article argues that episodes of large-scale violence were constitutive of Somaliland’s state-making trajectory. Based on theoretical reasoning and empirical findings, the article concludes that, while collective political violence is neither an angel of order nor a daemon of decay, war can be constitutive of state-making under the condition that it advances institutional and identity standardization.