A Politician-Centered Approach to State Formation

This chapter considers state-formation as extraordinary politics as it defines the territorial space enclosing the social and political actors available for subsequent coalition formation in ordinary times. It explains why the coalitions with actors from excluded regions are no longer possible once the territory of a state is consolidated. It also highlights how state-formation creates a monopoly, wherein the entire range of political strategies relying on violence is physically eliminated. The chapter highlights facts of state-formation in western Europe that support a strong division between the politics of state-formation and the politics of ordinary times. It explores the distinction between the extraordinary politics of state-formation and the ordinary politics of policy, government, and regime transformation in Latin America.