Revisiting Governance: Extended Statehood in Africa and Beyond

Formal statehood at the national level may become in the future reduced to the relatively small, but vitally important role of the provision of safety – and this will call for a wider definition of statehood beyond the political formal ‘state’ as we know it. The Weberian and even the democratic state are not inclusive enough – or in some places any more – to reflect the social reality it exists in. The legitimacy of classical statehood is slowly, but constantly eroded from different directions. This chapter suggests an update on the understanding of Extended Statehood and a method of translating this improved understanding into a workable tool to practitioners in the field. We offer this model to the practitioner and soldier who either serve as part of a project to maintain or erect a state.