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Functional means it has some form of bureaucracy that can collect taxes from the population and use that to do state things, usually provide for the defense of
by throwup238 2y ago
Functional means it has some form of bureaucracy that can collect taxes from the population and use that to do state things, usually provide for the defense of that population against internal and external threats. The actual system of government is irrelevant and in many cases the state itself survives even radical political change. What matters is whether it has the resources to actually exert authority.
Haiti lost its functional state when the French colonialists fled en masse after the 1804 massacre. Due to racism, they were the only ones allowed in administrative positions in the bureaucracy so when they left Haiti, it was left with no one qualified to run the state apparatus. Since the population were transplanted slaves, they had no tribal traditions to fall back on. Without a continuity of bureaucracy it was left hobbled to this day. Since the state can’t afford to police the population, these gangs fill the void because they can use force to collect taxes (in the broadest sense because usually this takes the form of business shakedowns and roadblocks that they use to extract money from the population).
- broken-kebab 2y agoThe question is not that we need some system of gov't before coming to democracy. It's just that we can't explain multiple failures of building/exporting democracy by this thing alone. There are way more functional bureaucracies than there are democratic governments. The question is what is the secret ingredient.
- throwup238 2y agoThe bureaucracy is the secret ingredient and it’s orthogonal to the system of government. Throughout history the bureaucrats have survived regimes and adapted to the demands of their new rulers, whether that be kings or constituents. Successful conquerors and revolutionaries both tend to repurpose that bureaucracy rather than rebuilding it from scratch (which tends to end very badly, see Haiti or the Democratic Republic of Congo).
- broken-kebab 2y agoI don't think so. China shows us an example of exceptionally developed bureaucracy, having long historical roots, even entrenched in culture - and no democracy. I really don't think governing system in the US had the same at its birth, and look how it went. I'd rather suggest some features of judicial system is the key