State Formation in Palestine ― Viability and Governance During a Social Transformation

In assessing Palestinian state formation in the wake of the 1994 Oslo agreements, Khan (economics, U. of London, UK) and colleagues reject the usefulness of the good-governance and neo-patrimonial frameworks in the context of developing countries, especially in the presence of conflict. They propose an alternative framework that focuses on the "transformation" capacities of states and apply the framework to Palestinian state formation. Separate chapters look at the economic relationship between Israel and Palestine, the perception of political institutions among Palestinians, tax administration, and the non-governmental organization sector. In general, they argue that the client-state relationship set up by the Oslo accords has played a major role in limiting the capacities of the Palestinian Authority. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Mushtaq H. Khan is Senior Lecturer in Economics and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has published a book and numerous articles on corruption, clientelism, rent-seeking and state failure.