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首页> 外文期刊>Journal of Economic Literature >States and Power in Africa by Jeffrey I. Herbst: A Review Essay
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States and Power in Africa by Jeffrey I. Herbst: A Review Essay

机译：杰弗里·赫伯斯特（Jeffrey I. Herbst）撰写的《非洲的国家与权力》：评论论文

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Social science theories aim to provide simple ways of classifying and understanding an endlessly complex reality. No social science theory has an R~2 equal to one, and Herbst's theory of comparative state formation is not an exception. With a few simple notions, however, Jeffrey Herbst provides an explanation of state failure in Africa. It seems highly plausible that this institutional failure is the key source of misery in the lives of millions of people. It means that basic services such as clean water, health care, and education are not provided. It means that people have to live plagued by lawlessness and insecurity, that they live short lives in societies over which they have little ability to influence collective decisions. Herbst persuasively argues that the key to this situation is to be found in the historical evolution of African state institutions. Due to low population density, lack of interstate conflict, and the perverse role of colonialism and the international state system, African states did not develop institutions that could effectively control and police their territories. They did not develop institutions to mobilize resources or mobilize people. Out of this flows a lack of democracy, much corruption, and bad economic policies. I think Herbst is correct in his focus on state failure and its deep historical roots. My main disagreement is on the relative influence of different forces on the origins of African state institutions. Rather than emphasize population density, I would instead argue that it is the expansion of Europe starting in the fifteenth century and ultimately leading to full colonization that played the major role. Nevertheless, this is ultimately an empirical issue. Many factors affect state formation, and European colonialism interacted with existing population density and institutions in ways that we do not fully understand. I completely agree with him about the perverse role of the international state system, the Cold War, and foreign development assistance, and I think his account of the evolution of African post-colonial states is highly convincing.
机译：社会科学理论旨在提供分类和理解无尽复杂现实的简单方法。没有社会科学理论的R〜2等于1，赫伯斯特的比较状态形成理论也不例外。但是，杰弗里·赫伯斯特（Jeffrey Herbst）提出了一些简单的概念，解释了非洲国家的失败。这种制度上的失败是成千上万人苦难的关键根源，这似乎是很有道理的。这意味着不提供诸如清洁水，医疗保健和教育之类的基本服务。这意味着人们必须生活在无法无天和不安全感的困扰下，他们在没有能力影响集体决策的社会中过着短暂的生活。赫伯斯特有说服力地指出，这种情况的关键在于非洲国家机构的历史演变。由于人口密度低，缺乏州际冲突以及殖民主义和国际国家体系的反作用，非洲国家没有建立可以有效控制和管理其领土的机构。他们没有建立机构来动员资源或动员人民。由此导致缺乏民主，大量腐败和不良的经济政策。我认为Herbst在关注国家失败及其深厚的历史根源上是正确的。我的主要分歧在于不同力量对非洲国家机构起源的相对影响。与其强调人口密度，不如说是从十五世纪开始的欧洲扩张，最终导致全面殖民化才是主要因素。尽管如此，这最终还是一个经验问题。许多因素影响国家的形成，欧洲殖民主义以我们不完全了解的方式与现有的人口密度和制度相互作用。我完全同意他关于国际国家体系，冷战和外国发展援助的不正当作用的看法，并且我认为他对非洲后殖民国家的演变的描述令人信服。

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