Abstract

Despite the voluminous literature that has developed over the past decade to analyze, evaluate, and criticize statebuilding interventions (SBIs) in so-called fragile or failing states, the phenomenon – as well as its origins, drivers, and implications – remains for the most part poorly understood. Critical and policy-oriented scholars alike have tended to accept that these interventions are, or should be, about establishing a functioning and legitimate state of either the Weberian or neoliberal variant – an objective summarized by Fukuyama (2005) as ‘getting to Denmark.’ The main points of disagreement have therefore been over what kind of ideal–typical state should be preferred; whether SBIs are at all capable of helping the creation of such a state; and, if yes, how these interventions should be designed and implemented to attain this objective.