Public Authority and the Provision of Public Goods in Conflict-Affected and Transitioning Regions

Abstract

This paper uses a systematic literature review to suggest that three emerging critical approaches to the production of public authority are identifiable within the contemporary literature on conflict-affected and transitioning regions. The authors term these approaches the ‘public authority from below perspective’, the ‘hybrid political orders lens’, and ‘political settlements analysis’. Although hailing from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, the paper argues that these approaches share important traits. Despite their similarities, however, the paper argues that the approaches should be unpacked and their normative assumptions challenged. Each can then be drawn upon to arrive at empirical understandings of how public authority is produced and exercised, and how it relates to the provision of public goods in conflict-affected and transitioning regions.

Citation

Hoffmann, K.; Kirk, T. Public Authority and the Provision of Public Goods in Conflict-Affected and Transitioning Regions. Justice and Security Research Programme, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London, UK (2013) 60 pp. [JSRP Research Paper 7]

Public Authority and the Provision of Public Goods in Conflict-Affected and Transitioning Regions

Published 1 January 2013