In the U.S., many administrative issues are resolved in courts rather than by expert bureaucracies. This leads to a slow, costly legal process that further hinders state capacity.
is the 2014 sequel to Francis Fukuyama's The Origins of Political Order . While the first volume traces political development from prehistory to the French Revolution, this second installment examines how modern institutions evolved from the Industrial Revolution to the present—and how they can eventually rot from within. The Three Pillars of Political Order
A once-strong state now suffering from "decay" through legal gridlock and interest group capture. Political Order and Political Decay: From the I...
An example of how war forced the development of a professional, autonomous bureaucracy.
A set of rules that are binding even on the most powerful political actors, preventing "rule by law" (where the law is just a tool for the elite). In the U
A strong state that lacks the rule of law and democratic accountability.
Fukuyama argues that a successful modern state requires a delicate balance of three specific institutions: While the first volume traces political development from
Fukuyama posits that the order in which these institutions develop matters immensely. For instance, countries that developed a strong, professional bureaucracy before democratization (like Prussia/Germany) often have more effective governance than those where democracy arrived before a competent state was built.