chapter 7
...................................................................................................................................................THE STATE AND
STATE-BUILDING
...................................................................................................................................................bob jessop
The state has been studied from many perspectives but no single theory can fully
capture and explain its complexities. States and the interstate system provide a
moving target because of their complex developmental logics and because there
are continuing attempts to transform them. Moreover, despite tendencies to reify the
state and treat it as standing outside and above society, there can be no adequate
theory of the state without a wider theory of society. For the state and political system
are parts of a broader ensemble of social relations and neither state projects nor state
power can be adequately understood outside their embedding in this ensemble.
1 What is the State?
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This innocuous-looking question challenges anyone trying to analyze states. Some
theorists deny the state’s very existence (see below) but most still accept that states
are real and provide a valid research focus. Beyond this consensus, however, lies
conceptual chaos. Key questions include: Is the state best deWned by its legal form,