In “War and the State in Africa,” Jeffrey Herbst states.
In States and Power in Africa, Jeffrey Herbst places the African state-building process in a truly comparative perspective. Herbst’s bold contention—that the conditions now facing African state-builders existed long before European penetration of the continent—is sure to provoke controversy, for it runs counter to the prevailing assumption that colonialism changed everything. This.In his groundbreaking book, Jeffrey Herbst places the African state-building process in a truly comparative perspective, examining the problem of state consolidation from the precolonial period, through the short but intense interlude of European colonialism, to the modern era of independent states. Herbst's bold contention--that the conditions now facing African state-builders existed long.Robinson, James A. 2000. “States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control by Jeffrey I. Herbst: A Review Essay”.
This ambitious and original book turns a comparative historical lens on state-building in Africa. Unlike most European states, which consolidated their power and fixed their present boundaries largely through war, African states acquired their borders by fiat and have rarely faced external military threats to their sovereignty. The postcolonial international system has given them an easy ride.War and tfie State in Jeffrey Herbst Afnica MIost analyses assume that in Africa, as elsewhere, states will eventually become strong. But this may not be true in Africa, where states are developing in a fundamentally new environment. Lessons drawn from the case of Europe show that war is an important cause of state formation that is missing in Africa today. The crucial role that war has played.
Herbst (2000) argues in his book titled “States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control” that the larger concept of politics in Africa rooted under the basis of state-building is unusual and characterized with questionable contrast to what prevails in Europe. To this end, he states that “The African experience of politics amid large supplies of land and low.
