Filling in the Blanks: The Potency of Fragmented Imageries of the State

Abstract

Recent neo-patrimonial approaches to the state see the sub-Saharan state as a façade that serves – with different degrees of effectiveness – to disguise the play of clientalistic relations and the interests of kin and kith. Drawing on an analysis of how ideas are reproduced in peri-urban areas of Maputo, Mozambique, this article argues that no pre-given causality exists between encounters with a dysfunctional state apparatus and subjectively held understandings of ordinary people. We cannot a priori determine that incoherent and partial state practices necessarily lead individuals to perceive the state as devoid of legitimate moral value. On the contrary, locally situated individuals use ideas associated with the state to define entitlements and create standards for evaluating state-defined programmes or international donor-driven initiatives. Ideas of the state can thus be a basis for social action; even when the reality of state dysfunction is widely accepted, ‘ordinary people’ continue to invest themselves in these ideas.

Notes

1. Following Connor, I define a state functionally as a political subdivision of the globe (1994:92).However, as with most political phenomena, a functional definition says little of its ideational connotations.

2. Hansen and Stepputat see ‘languages of stateness’ as the ‘widespread and globalised registers of governance and authority’ invoked in the continuous process of construction of the state (2001:5). In order to avoid defining clear-cut registers, I take ‘discourses of stateness’ to encompass simply the meaning-making processes through which ideas of the state are (re)produced and their temporary fixations in time.

3. ‘Discursive closure’ designates the attempt to fixate meaning among an ensemble of signifying elements. As indicated by discourse analytics, closure is rendered impossible by the lack of a fixed center (Jørgensen & Phillips, 1999; Laclau & Mouffe, 1998; Torfing, 1998). Thus, the ‘West’ or ‘Democracy’ are frequently displayed as occupying discursive centers with fixed meanings although they are constantly inserted in different discursive strategies serving often oppositional objectives.

4. For a thorough analysis of the ways that ideas of the state interact with deep-rooted local cultural understandings, see Herzfeld (1992).

5. On heterogeneous networks of power see Burchell (1996) and Rose & Miller (1992).

6. I am well aware of current trends of giving ‘ownership rights’ to local stakeholders in order for them to regain authority over the process. However, taken as a whole, I still argue that the development world is marked by a strong emphasis on development workers as agents of change.