Your first bullet point sums up the book’s argument accurately. The other points that you are making, while accurate in terms of what the book says, might go better under other wikis — evidence, methods, and concepts. Have another look and see if you can really separate these into their appropriate categories.
• Leaders are faced with three sets of issues when constructing their states:
1) the cost of the expansion of domestic power infrastructure which is how it expensive it will be to expand infrastructure such as road building projects. It was theorized that countries that don’t have roads in place shouldn’t build them because it will be too expensive. In the results countries that didn’t have roads had very difficult geography that made construction costly and countries that did have roads had easier geography that made construction cheaper.
2) the nature of national boundaries; The boundaries in African states are a result of colonization while European boundaries are defined and created by war. Boundaries can be currency or it can be the defined shape of the territory.
3) The design of the state systems is so that weak states are supported. State systems have a beginning in colonialism and it has been shaped by post colonial rulers.
Africa’s political geography influenced the decisions of leaders in the same way that Europe’s political geography shaped the decision making of its leaders.
Yes, better. Make sure you are comfortable comparing this theory to some other theory of state formation that we’ve read about and consider the theoretical strengths and weaknesses of each? (Not something I want you to do here, just by way of preparing for final exam).
Ashley does a good job summarizing the main argument Herbst develops in his book. It is important to mention that he seeks to move from theoretical generalization about the state-building struggle. Scholars often fail into Westernized theories that do not apply to every place in the world. Herbst analyzes the shape that politics take in Africa and the pre conditions for those results. Ashley effectively captures the struggles that African leaders face in the process of state-building.
Ashley,
Your first bullet point sums up the book’s argument accurately. The other points that you are making, while accurate in terms of what the book says, might go better under other wikis — evidence, methods, and concepts. Have another look and see if you can really separate these into their appropriate categories.
• Leaders are faced with three sets of issues when constructing their states:
1) the cost of the expansion of domestic power infrastructure which is how it expensive it will be to expand infrastructure such as road building projects. It was theorized that countries that don’t have roads in place shouldn’t build them because it will be too expensive. In the results countries that didn’t have roads had very difficult geography that made construction costly and countries that did have roads had easier geography that made construction cheaper.
2) the nature of national boundaries; The boundaries in African states are a result of colonization while European boundaries are defined and created by war. Boundaries can be currency or it can be the defined shape of the territory.
3) The design of the state systems is so that weak states are supported. State systems have a beginning in colonialism and it has been shaped by post colonial rulers.
Africa’s political geography influenced the decisions of leaders in the same way that Europe’s political geography shaped the decision making of its leaders.
Yes, better. Make sure you are comfortable comparing this theory to some other theory of state formation that we’ve read about and consider the theoretical strengths and weaknesses of each? (Not something I want you to do here, just by way of preparing for final exam).
Ashley does a good job summarizing the main argument Herbst develops in his book. It is important to mention that he seeks to move from theoretical generalization about the state-building struggle. Scholars often fail into Westernized theories that do not apply to every place in the world. Herbst analyzes the shape that politics take in Africa and the pre conditions for those results. Ashley effectively captures the struggles that African leaders face in the process of state-building.