Summary
A scholar whose critique of donor support for Palestinian Authority state formation Adam Hanieh presents as an early influential critique in Rethinking Statehood in Palestine: donors emphasized the PNA’s technocratic capacities over popular endorsement of its rule (Rethinking Statehood in Palestine, PDF p.53-54).
Details
- Khan identifies a two-way relationship between state functions and state legitimacy, with three feedback routes: legitimacy partly depends on the provision of functions; the choice of functions is political, and if priorities do not correspond with the “distribution of political values, organizations and aspirations in a country”, legitimacy is undermined; and declining legitimacy makes providing functions harder, in a vicious cycle (PDF p.53-54).
- In Palestine, the prioritization of functions was largely determined by external powers and focused on security guarantees to the occupying power and a development model reflecting foreign interests (PDF p.54).
Related pages
Rethinking Statehood in Palestine, State-building, Palestinian Authority, Adam Hanieh