The Art of Coercion: The Primitive Accumulation and Management of Coercive Power - Hardcover

Giustozzi, Antonio

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 023170240X ISBN 13: 9780231702409

Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr, 2011

Synopsis

An expert on the Taliban’s modern habits and practices, Antonio Giustozzi makes a controversial point about the role of violence and coercion in state building, which is also relevant to liberal interventionism. Liberal interventionism’s dominant discourse dangerously neglects the role of coercion and the monopoly of violence in the countries it purports to aid. Many scholars assume that a functional liberal state can emerge from a settlement between warring parties, especially if the agreement is characterized by political inclusiveness and a social contract. Yet similar, post-Cold War deals prove the failure of this philosophy, prompting a reexamination of its claims.

Giustozzi contends the key flaw lies in the confusion over the specifics of state formation and state building. In his view, completely different ?rules of the game” apply in each scenario. Naked coercion is a key component of state formation, and very few states have been formed without recourse to it. In contrast, the history of state consolidation after initial formation reflects a taming of violence and a sophisticated method of managing it. The Art of Coercion introduces a new framework for analyzing the role of security in its broadest sense, particularly its place in state formation and state building. While focusing largely on nineteenth- and twentieth-century examples, Giustozzi discusses instances of coercive power through-out history, ranging from its use in the Carolingian empire to South Africa’s Boer War, and from China’s Warring States period to Emiliano Zapata’s Mexican Revolution.

About this title

Review:

'The Art of Coercion is a superb addition to the literature: erudite, wide-ranging in its historical examples, and neatly structured. Its arguments about the typically ruthless 'primitive accumulation of a monopoly of violence' and the institutional and political challenges of this and of maintaining a monopoly once achieved, are of more than merely scholarly appeal. The evidence and argument have profoundly challenging implications for all those involved in interventions to 'build stability overseas' or interested in conflict prevention and state building.' --Christopher Cramer, Professor of the Political Economy of Development, SOAS

'Antonio Giustozzi has written another terrific book. He places coercion and violence within the framework of the state-building literature and engages the critical issue of the monopoly of violence head on. His discussions of elite bargaining and its relations to coercion in civil war and internal crises, the role of political policing, the political micromanagement of population control, and the origins and development of policing are all full of original insights and thought-provoking arguments. Moreover, Giustozzi's mastery of history unusual among most social scientists shines through as he illustrates his contentions with wonderfully apt examples from the past. This book is a major contribution to the field of security studies and, just as importantly, will be a joy to read even for those who may lack the specialist's fascination with the topic.' --Zoltan Barany, Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Professor of Government, University of Texas

About the Author:

Antonio Giustozzi is a Research Fellow at the Crisis States Research Centre, London School of Economics. His two most recent books, both published by Hurst, are Empires of Mud: Wars and Warlordism in Afghanistan and Decoding the New Taliban: Insights from the Afghan Field, which he edited.

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 023170240X
• ISBN 13: 9780231702409
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 298