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I B TAURIS AND COMPANY LTD Weak States Strong Societies by Amin Saikal
Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the previously well-established organisation of world politics has been thrown into disarray. While during the Cold War, the bipolarity of the world gave other powers a defined structure within which to vie for power, influence and material wealth, the current global political landscape has been transformed by a diffusion of power. As a result, the world has seen the rise of sub-national or quasi-/non-state actors, such as Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and the movement that calls itself Islamic State, or ISIS. These dramatic geopolitical shifts have heavily impacted state-society relationships, power and authority in the international system. Weak States, Strong Societies analyses the effect of these developments on the new world order, arguing that the framework of 'weak state, strong society' appears even more applicable to the contemporary global landscape than it did during the Cold War. Focusing on a range of regional contexts, the book explores what constitutes a weak or strong state. It will be essential reading for specialists in politics and international relations, whether students or academic researchers. ContentsPreface ivContributors viiAbbreviations ixIntroduction 1Amin Saikal and Stephanie Wright1 Defining the Issues of State-Society Relations 12Richard Falk2 From nation-states to member states: State-society relations and state transformation in contemporary Europe 29Christopher Bickerton3 The dynamics of federalism: Belgium and Switzerland 50Jan Wouters, Sven van Kerckhoven and Maarten Vidal4 State-society relationships in Eastern Europe and world politics 79Vesselin Popovski5 State-civil society dynamics in Morocco and Algeria:A case of divide and rule? 114Karima Laachir6 Afghanistan and Iraq: State-building in countries with strong societies 144Amin Saikal7 State-society dynamics and authoritarian stability in Central Asia 165Kirill Nourzhanov8 Weak states and strong societies in Southeast Asia 202Carlyle A. Thayer9 The crisis of the state in Africa and the unending searchfor the reinvention of the state in Somalia 230Jide Martyns Okeke10 Strong states, strong societies, weak democracies? Assessing state-society relationships in Latin America 256Pia RiggirozziConclusion 290Amin SaikalBibliography 297Index