Author: Mark Dincecco

By Mark Dincecco and Yuhua Wang Several recent Broadstreet posts have been about state capacity, including conceptualizations, historical roots, and effects. In light of this, we think that it might be helpful to briefly take stock of what the historical political economy literature has to say in response to the following four questions: 1) What … Continue reading State Capacity in Historical Political Economy: What, How, Why, and Why Not?

By Gary Cox and Mark Dincecco Does political representation improve the government’s military might? Two types of theory say yes. The first is the “participative” theory, which the classic sociologist Max Weber describes as follows: “The basis of democratization is everywhere purely military in character; [whenever] the community…was compelled [by the exigency of war] to … Continue reading The Budgetary Origins of Fiscal Military Prowess