Book Review: War Financing and State Formation

The financing of wars influenced the formation of states. Thereby thesis statements Charles Tilly (hereinafter written Tilly) in his book entitled "Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1990" in an effort to explain how the formation of countries in mainland Europe. Among the many things that developed and played an important role in the period 990-1990, there were two important components of state formation, namely capitalism and the military/instruments of coercion. The two met on a common agenda, namely war financing. War requires financing that comes from the development of capitalism, even so with capitalism that needs protection from the military. In this book, Tilly provides an interesting description of how the process of becoming (using process tracing) a country. Mainly seen from how the power (power) is consolidated and consolidated.

Back to Tilly's study range, in the mid 990-1990s. If we make a history of the development of the concept of nation-states in mainland Europe again, the annex. We will encounter stories of how power is fragmented unequally. Power rests with the tribes that inhabit a small territory. The tribe gradually needed protection from other tribes or forces that had sufficient military strength. It is not surprising then that the history of mainland Europe is known as the history of bloody lands, massacres, territorial expansion, and the disappearance of other tribes in the struggle for influence.

The history of the development of mainland Europe is in contrast to the history of the development of the vast landmass across the Atlantic Ocean. In this land, there are bloody conflicts involving communities for the sake of influence and territory. The fierce battle that occurred between communities, until Martin Scorsese directed Gangs of New York, a film that tells how the struggle for power in five points Manhattan area. The storyline culminates with the group being left out of the arena five points the. The influence of community and territorial divisions on the plains was also recorded by Alexis de Tocqueville, a law scholar who made observations on the plains. As a result, even though there was bloodshed, due to the size of the territory, consensus and territorial division between groups were possible (Tocqueville, 2003). These plains would later become known as the United States of America.

Europe has a limited area. As a result, the struggle for territory between tribes cannot be avoided. Some have disappeared, melted under the influence of the state, there are some who seem to have melted but actually still hold on to the old entity, such as the Catalan case in Spain. This process of power consolidation became Tilly's focus. The initial description of the idea departs from how to embody the conception of the state. In terms of this terminology, Tilly has a definition of the state that resembles Max Weber's conception of authority. The state is understood as the only organization that can use instruments of coercion to control its authority, population and territory. In an effort to build his argument, Tilly uses an approach process tracing by tracing the historical development of its materialism, between the development of capitalism and the military.

At first, the two did not grow and interact in the same space. Capitalism grows mainly in small towns that are on the outskirts (periphery). Military power resides in a kingdom that is at the center of a region. In addition to being supported by military might, the kingdom has a strong influence on church power. Borrowing the term of Louis Althusser, a Marxist philosopher, with this device of power, the state already has ideological apparatuswithin the church and repressive apparatus in the military (Althusser, 2007). These two power modes do not move with the same time. When the church lost its influence in controlling society, the military began to take on the role of creating social order.

The process of state formation, in Tilly's argument, is in three dominant ways, including development tendencies through the military route, through the strengthening of capitalism, or through a combination of the two. In the first tendency, military domination of a region is strengthened by taking power authority in peripheral areas. Territories are increasingly being expanded, but on the other hand, the management of military power is increasingly centralized. The second tendency is the domination of the development of capitalism. The development of capitalism in small towns ultimately encourages the expansion of areas to gain influence. In it also formed a new social class, namely the middle class which has demands for expansion of the territory.

The last tendency is the combination of military instruments and capitalism. In this combination model, cities that have developed their economic activities also need more security to ensure that existing economic activities are not disturbed. On the other hand, the need for expansion of the territory of power requires economic activity to support it. At this point war financing became a common agenda, so symbiosis mutualism formed. The combination of the two influences the formation of other social instruments, such as taxes, civic obligations, and social order.

State Formation Process

Within the framework of his explanation, the process of forming a state initially refers to two main ways. First, the process of forming the state from below (bottom up). This process from below is closely related to the tendency of capitalism that has been described in the previous paragraph. In essence, the development of the market which is assessed will encourage the formation of the state. Second, the formation process from above (top down ). This process from above is closely related to the tendency of military development. Tilly tries to break away from existing explanations by saying that the process of forming a state is a tug-of-war between the process of formation from below and from above. In a different language, it is the consolidation of power, the dynamic interaction between the development of capitalism and the military that forms the state.

Judging from how power was consolidated, Tilly divided it into four phases, including the patriarchalism phase, the brokerage phase, the nationalization phase and the specialization phase. The four phases are grouped into two broad categories, namely internal (challenge) categories and external (see Graph 1). In the internal category, the phases included are the patriarchal phase and the broker phase. The patriarchalism phase refers to the significant role of the existing tribes. Sovereignty in this phase is still fragmented into small forces in the form of tribes. The broker phase, this phase refers to the development of capitalism, the community has started to build a system of mutual borrowing between citizens. Social development in this phase is also followed by the formation of social classes.

In the external category, the phases included are nationalization and specialization. The nationalization phase is a continuation of the development of capitalism. In this phase, the state has begun to build military strength, develop an administrative system, and promote a fiscal system. This development cannot be separated from the challenge of protecting the development of existing capitalism from external forces. The next phase, specialization, is the phase when there is a separation between military and fiscal activities. Once again, the main differentiator is in the consolidation of power. The internal phase is concerned with internal consolidation, while the external phase is concerned with how power is managed for larger ambitions, such as expanding the country's territory.

Tilly came to a final conclusion. Efforts to maintain the development of capitalism while continuing to expand territory in mainland Europe, eventually encouraged the formation of other supporting systems, such as rent and tax systems. This development has major consequences for important conceptions that develop further, let's call it the concept of citizenship (citizenship). In the latter part of his book, Tilly focuses on the problem of state formation (state making) in third world countries. The main focus is on how countries are formed in this region, bearing in mind that the structure of power in third world countries is a consequence of the division of the world into two large blocks, the western and eastern blocks during the cold war period. In my reading, in his opinion, third world countries have military tendencies but are a little sluggish in the development of their capitalism. Of course this has an impact on the formation process as well as the results of this process for the country that is standing.

Colonialism and International Political Inequality

Before I try to see the limitations of Tilly's study, I will try to see how this study contributes. As a work, this book provides a complete picture with convincing arguments, especially for readers who want to know how a study with a process tracing done. In addition to the writing process which takes a lot of time, the framework developed by Tilly is still relevant in terms of reading how countries are difficult to form or consolidate in the modern era. In this modern era, post-colonialism, many countries find it difficult to regulate their country internally, as well as continuously face global challenges (international political economy interests) in their efforts to consolidate.
Let's take the example of countries in Africa. Let's take the case of Somalia, a beautiful country with a backdrop of the Indian Ocean, but also known as a producer of feared pirates. Somalia is a country facing the problem of non-consolidation of power in the country. Apart from that, of course, pressure from the international system made it more difficult for consolidation to take shape. Political stability and exploitation of identity politics play an important role in the consolidation of power, moreover there is a strong clash between religious ties in Somalia and the international agenda. In the end the state stands in small groups that carry out their own way of government (self governing community).

There is no adequate development of capitalism in the cities. Instruments of violence are only controlled by one ethnic group. There is international power intervention through the UN to be able to push for change from above (top down ) in this country. With this much fragmentation of power, the consolidation of power is basically not achieved. Cases like the one in Somalia show that power is too concentrated in the tribes. While the argument that war financing (in this case domestic stabilization) is relevant, Tilly does not see that ethnicity and ideology can play a significant role in hindering state formation. Even though it has its drawbacks, Tilly's framework helps us a lot to see how the processes and elements of forming a country are.
The limitation of Tilly's study is the need to carefully contextualize it to read how modern countries are today. Tilly had explained that the financing of wars was a factor that shaped a nation, but Tilly had forgotten that the expansion of the countries of mainland Europe did not stop there. The need for the war financing process encouraged countries in mainland Europe to establish colonial states in the southern hemisphere, covering India to the South Asian region. The pattern of colonial expansion followed what world commodities were dominant at that time. It is no wonder then that a Portuguese ship docked at Banda Neira for nutmeg, the main commodity at that time.

In other words, the international structure has been unequal from the start, since colonialism took over. With the existing structural imbalances, the internal dynamics of state formation will never be the same. The process of Indonesian independence was not built from tribes that killed and brought each other down. In contrast, the process of Indonesian independence was built from the formation of an educated indigenous social class as a result of ethical political practices. It is this layer of social class that then creates, to borrow Bennedict Anderson's term, imaginations related to Indonesia. Therefore, by looking at the explanatory effort, Tilly's explanatory framework is relevant in explaining its main elements, but loses its explanatory power in the context of countries post-colonial.

Bibliography

Althusser, L. (2007). Philosophy as a Weapon of Revolution. Resist Book.
De Tocqueville, A. (2003). Democracy in America. Regnery Publishing.
Tilly, C. (1990). Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1990. Oxford: Blackwell.