There is No Such Thing as the State: Discourse, Effect and Performativity

Abstract

The ‘state’ is one of the foundational concepts in the fields of development studies, yet it is often employed in the literature uncritically, with academics assuming an essentialised presence of the state. This article begins with Roxanne Doty’s blunt and provocative observation: ‘There is no such thing as “the state”’, which forces us to stop and examine closely what it is we are actually seeing when we talk about ‘the state’. This article offers a conception of ‘the state’ as a discursively produced structural/structuring effect that relies on constant acts of performativity to call it into being. Thus, the ‘state’ is understood not as an essentialised entity, but an ongoing process. The article elaborates the 3 core parts of this conceptualisation – discursive construction, structural/structuring effect and performativity – in greater detail, with an eye for possible future avenues of inquiry. The discussion is grounded in empirical examples about state‐making practices related to the creation and maintenance of Uganda’s national parks.

Keywords:

• state
• sovereignty
• discourse
• Africa
• parks