The role of public services in state- and nation-building

In this new article, to be published in Development Policy Review and now already available online, Zoe Scott and I explore the role of public services in state- and nation-building. We look at three key processes in the state- and nation-building sequence  in Western Europe in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries (penetration, standardisation and accommodation)  in which public services play a role. Through this analysis, we contribute to a debate in the development community on state- and nation-building in fragile states.

Van de Walle, S. & Scott, Z. (2011). ‘The political role of service delivery in statebuilding: Exploring the relevance of European history for developing countries’. Development Policy Review, 29(1): 5-21.