Latin American governments systematically fail to provide the key public goods for their societies to prosper. This book argues this is because nineteenth-century Latin American state-formation occurred in a period when commerce, rather than war, was the key driver forging countries. Latin American leaders pursued the benefits of international trade at the cost of long-term liabilities built into the countries they forged, notably patrimonial administrations and dysfunctional regional combinations. The book begins with a background on comparative state-formation, introducing the idea that the ... More

Latin American governments systematically fail to provide the key public goods for their societies to prosper. This book argues this is because nineteenth-century Latin American state-formation occurred in a period when commerce, rather than war, was the key driver forging countries. Latin American leaders pursued the benefits of international trade at the cost of long-term liabilities built into the countries they forged, notably patrimonial administrations and dysfunctional regional combinations. The book begins with a background on comparative state-formation, introducing the idea that the timing of state-formation in world history is crucial. It develops a theory that explains cases of state-formation with and without state building. It also lays the groundwork for the study of comparative state-formation and highlights the difference between state-formation and smaller-scale political processes. The book examines the two processes of state-formation: territory consolidation and violence monopolization. It then considers how the state-formation in Latin America occurred under extremely auspicious international economic and geopolitical conditions. The book concludes that the nineteenth-century state-formation is a key to understanding some of the most pressing issues in contemporary Latin America. It suggests that some paths of state-formation do not lead to state building, and a subset of them create durable obstacles it.