The Historical Roots of the Spatially Uneven State - Exploring Subnational Variation in State Capacity in Guatemala
(2018) STVM25 20181Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- This paper explores the relationship between historical political conflicts and subnational variation in state capacity. I draw on new literature which suggests that internal patterns of state strength mirror the geographical distribution of socio-political conflicts during critical periods of institutional change. This general argument is placed within a broader society-centric theoretical framework of state-making, through which the Guatemalan state-building experience during the Revolutionary Decade (1944-1954) is analyzed. Based on historical data from archival and secondary sources, the statistical analysis reveals that the class-cleavage that structured state-building in Guatemala has had a positive effect on local fiscal capacity,... (More)
- This paper explores the relationship between historical political conflicts and subnational variation in state capacity. I draw on new literature which suggests that internal patterns of state strength mirror the geographical distribution of socio-political conflicts during critical periods of institutional change. This general argument is placed within a broader society-centric theoretical framework of state-making, through which the Guatemalan state-building experience during the Revolutionary Decade (1944-1954) is analyzed. Based on historical data from archival and secondary sources, the statistical analysis reveals that the class-cleavage that structured state-building in Guatemala has had a positive effect on local fiscal capacity, but a non-significant impact on central state capabilities. I suggest that this negative finding may be the result of a lack of cohesion around a single political cause, which in turn may be a reflection of the complex mix of historical class, ethnic and regional tensions that historically have characterized the country. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8955770
- author
- Rodriguez Bolin, Nicolas LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- STVM25 20181
- year
- 2018
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- state capacity, Guatemala, cleavage structures, subnationalism
- language
- English
- id
- 8955770
- date added to LUP
- 2019-06-28 14:07:25
- date last changed
- 2019-06-28 14:07:25
@misc{8955770, abstract = {{This paper explores the relationship between historical political conflicts and subnational variation in state capacity. I draw on new literature which suggests that internal patterns of state strength mirror the geographical distribution of socio-political conflicts during critical periods of institutional change. This general argument is placed within a broader society-centric theoretical framework of state-making, through which the Guatemalan state-building experience during the Revolutionary Decade (1944-1954) is analyzed. Based on historical data from archival and secondary sources, the statistical analysis reveals that the class-cleavage that structured state-building in Guatemala has had a positive effect on local fiscal capacity, but a non-significant impact on central state capabilities. I suggest that this negative finding may be the result of a lack of cohesion around a single political cause, which in turn may be a reflection of the complex mix of historical class, ethnic and regional tensions that historically have characterized the country.}}, author = {{Rodriguez Bolin, Nicolas}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{The Historical Roots of the Spatially Uneven State - Exploring Subnational Variation in State Capacity in Guatemala}}, year = {{2018}}, }