Isabel Rocha de Siqueira - Managing State Fragility: Conflict, Quantification and Power

Conflict, Quantification and Power

Isabel Rocha de Siqueira

First published 2017
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2017 Isabel Rocha de Siqueira

The right of Isabel Rocha de Siqueira to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Rocha de Siqueira, Isabel, author.
Title: Managing state fragility : conflict, quantification, and power / Isabel Rocha de Siqueira.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. | Series: Routledge studies in liberty and security | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016045355| ISBN 9781138682283 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315536613 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Political stabilityDeveloping countries. | Quantitative research. | International relationsResearchMethodology. | Developing countriesForeign relations.
Classification: LCC JF60 .R6 2017 | DDC 320.9172/4dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016045355

ISBN: 978-1-138-68228-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-53661-3 (ebk)

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This book is based on research conducted between 2010 and 2014 and the resultant PhD thesis presented at the Department of War Studies, Kings College London (KCL), UK. It is also the result of a much welcome PhD scholarship offered by CAPES, Brazil. Two articles have been published based on parts of this research and the various comments on them were taken into account for this book. The text has been extensively updated and it includes the most recent events in the fragile states agenda, such as the inclusion of goal 16 among the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goal 16, on peace, justice and strong institutions, reinforces many of the arguments in the book: quantification gains authority from the kind of imperfection very much present in development-and-conflict correlations and vice versa. The fragile states agenda and the aid industry are constantly changing and this books seeks to offer a dynamic text that can do justice to the pace of these transformations. Nevertheless, as it is often all too tempting to find new objects in politics, the book also strives to ground the discussion on fragility on the important events surrounding the broad development-and-conflict correlation in the past two to three decades and in the old debates around statistics in social sciences. The result, it is hoped, is a detailed, grounded and open analysis on the role of numbers and power in international politics, with a reminder that, as the manifestations of power change, so should our accounts of them.

I was lucky enough to have the support of a great network of friends and colleagues who helped me in many ways as I conducted the research that led to this book. I would like to begin by thanking my PhD supervisor, Professor Didier Bigo (KCL, Science Po Paris), for the incalculable support he provided, for his patience in guiding me through ever more challenging questions, and for his encouragement as many other challenges came my way. I am most thankful for the environment offered to researchers at the Department of War Studies, KCL, and for the many courses and events I was able to attend. The department certainly provided the tools I needed not only to conduct a good research but to feel well and welcome. I am also indebted to all those who offered valuable feedback on different parts of this text, at KCL and in diverse meetings and conferences: Vivienne Jabri, Brooke Rogers, Anna Leander, Iver Neumann, Julien Jeandesboz, Mdric Martin-Maz, Paulo Esteves, Joo Nogueira, Jef Huysmans, Monique Jo-Beerli, Olivier Nay, Sonja Grimm, Nicolas Lemay-Hebert, Anna Kraemer, Bruno Magalhes, Chris Leite, Emma McCluskey and the anonymous reviewers of the previous articles and the present book.