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"War is a paradox. On the one hand, it destroys bodies and destroys communities. On the other hand, it is responsible for some of the strongest human bonds and has been the genesis of many of our most fundamental institutions. War and Society addresses these paradoxes while providing a sociological exploration of this enigmatic phenomenon which has played a central role in human history, wielded an incredible power over human lives, and commanded intellectual questioning for countless generations. The authors offer an analytical account of the origins of war, its historical development, and its consequences for individuals and societies, adopting a comparative approach throughout. It ends with an appraisal of the contemporary role of war, looking to the future of warfare and the fundamental changes in the nature of violent conflict which we are starting to witness. This short, readable and engaging book will be an ideal reading for upper-level students of political sociology, military sociology, and related subjects"--

The concept of state capacity has been in development literature for decades. Nevertheless the concept, its operationalization, and its measurement are still highly contested. This paper seeks to briefly review the literature on state capacity and provide an empirical analysis of recent data in order to reassess the state of capacity theory and testing. We argue that very little, if any, attention has been paid to critical variations in national regional and subnational levels in state service provision, both statically and over time. We also argue that existing theoretical research in capacity utilization can provide insights to state building and development scholars regarding who is "doing more with less". Finally, we offer the concept of durable capacity as a way of understanding how states can provide longstanding development outcomes despite income variations.

Previous research has highlighted that, in addition to being operationally opaque, the concept of state capacity has been confined to national and cross-national analysis, with inadequate attention paid to variations at the regional and sub-national levels of the state. Our current research seeks to help remedy this lacuna. Inspired by the growing consensus that state capacity is not monolithic, but instead comprises capabilities distributed in distinct ways across sectors and institutions, we have developed a parsimonious approach to understanding the concept so as to increase its utility. Specifically, we explore variations in the provision of government services across sectors, wealth, geography, and urbanity in three countries: India, Peru, and Ukraine—representing Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Importantly, we offer an analysis of state capacity as a function of variation as measured by standard deviation.