Those who control and manage the means of production, such as bureau-
crats earning salaries, often confront a peasant society that has yet to
develop class consciousness derived from its material position in society.
Then there is the problem alluded to earlier, that it is often the privileged
members of society who indulge in destabilization. In the Third World con-
flict and crisis within the newly emerging middle class have been a source
of political instability. Factionalism, perhaps along ethnic lines, among the
propertied classes and classes in charge of the state apparatus has often led
to military coupsor the illegal manipulation of political processes. Rather
than peasantries rising up against their oppressors, or workers revolting
against their exploiters, sections of the middle class compete for control of
the state, using methods that fall outside the law and the constitution.
A crisis of state authority
Another explanation of instability centres on a ‘crisis of authority’ or state
failure. Third World states have often lacked the power to make their presence
felt throughout society. They have had a legal and administrative incapacity to
rule. Bureaucracies might be overdeveloped in terms of political power but
they are not necessarily effective in terms of administration. The state cannot
deliver the services which taxpayers believe they are paying for; it cannot
extract the resources from society that it needs to finance its activities; it can-
not maintain law and order; it cannot police its territory effectively. The case
of Uganda in the 1980s seems to support this kind of explanation. Too many
areas were under the control of criminals, bandits and other groups which had
no legitimate authority. There are other societies in which this is a problem.
The Thai government does not control its northernmost provinces – they are
under the control of drugs barons. In Colombia there has been virtual civil war
between the state and organizations that want to remain outside the scope of
the state’s authority and the enforcement of its laws. The failure of ‘new’
states to extend effective political authority, maintain order and extract
resources for the provision of public goods throughout their territories leads
to crises, the erosion of legitimacy and security, and violent civil conflict in
‘the already fragile post-colonial state’ (Ayoob, 1996, p. 73; Migdal, 1996).
State incapacity springs from a number of sources. Colonialism weakened,
fragmented or destroyed existing means of social control. State leaders have
created organizations which compete with and threaten the power of the state’s
executive leadership. Strong societies have proved resistant to state domination
through the power of chiefs, landlords, bosses, foreign corporations, rich peas-
ants, clan leaders, castes, powerful families and ‘strongmen’ (Migdal, 1988).
240 Understanding Third World Politics