Governing on the Edge. How International Pressures Shape the Geography of State Power

ABSTRACT Most explanations of the territorial unevenness of state capacity in the contemporary non‐Western world focus on domestic factors. While international causes may have been crucial in shaping state capacity in Europe in earlier centuries, the logic goes, they are of less relevance for developing countries in the postwar era. This article nuances this picture, by arguing that international factors continue to matter for state‐building. Using the geographic location of state institutions as a measure of state capacity, it finds that the spatial distribution of coercive institutions follows a U‐shaped pattern: High capacity in the capital, lower in the middle, and then increasing again as one approach a state border. The results thus suggest a need to reconsider accounts that downplay the role of international pressures in shaping state‐building after 1945, as well as highlighting the importance of distinguishing between different types of state power.