State dysfunction : the concept and its application to South Africa

Abstract

The phenomenon of state dysfunction has, over the last two decades, become a prominent empirical and scholarly concern internationally and, more recently, domestically. This study endeavours to extend and improve the understanding of dysfunctional states in the scientific domain – in the developing world in general, as well as the South African context in particular. Given the dearth of conceptual literature in the field of dysfunctional states, the first part of this study concerns the pursuit of a novel conceptualisation of state dysfunction, premised upon the Weberian state as a comprehensive point of departure. Subsequently, meta-theoretical, theoretical, applicational and operational frameworks are developed through which this concept may be integrated by using a scientific method and ultimately studied empirically in pursuit of valid and reliable knowledge pertaining to the phenomenon. The outcome of the above-mentioned process is a multi-criteria operational framework that enables evaluation and analysis with the purpose of determining the approximation to – and extent of – state dysfunction in a given empirical context. Accordingly, the second part of this study concerns the evaluation and analysis of the South African state. The outcome of this process is an account of South African state dysfunction that is at once comprehensive and thorough.