5 The State in the Third World
Introduction
The different attempts to explain the nature of Third World politics in terms
of encounters with richer countries that have been examined in earlier chap-
ters made reference to the form of the state and the configuration of politi-
cal interests sometimes articulated by the state and sometimes suppressed
by it. If the state is focused on more closely there are contrasting theoretical
perspectives to assist understanding of the nature of the state in the Third
World. The nature of the state – the institutions through which legitimate
power (political authority) is exercised and enforced – is central to the study
of politics in any country. Third World conditions produce additional
reasons why the analysis of the state is necessary for an understanding of
politics in developing countries.
First, there is the legacy of colonialism which social scientists of very dif-
ferent ideological points of departure have recognized to be a formative
influence on the contemporary state in developing countries. The key ques-
tion posed here is whether the post-colonial state can develop the attributes
of a pluralist political system or a distinctive relationship to new class for-
mations. The next two sections of this chapter present these contrasting
interpretations of the state in post-colonial society.
Secondly, there is a controversy between the proponents of society-
centred and state-centred approaches to the state, the former presenting the
state as an arena for the resolution of conflicts between private interests, the
latter regarding the state as an independent force with its own policy agenda
(Nordlinger, 1987). The conviction that the state must be ‘brought back in’
to politics will be assessed in this chapter, together with the claim that in so
doing the socio-economic context of politics is in danger of neglect.
108