Some thoughts on the working of competing orders and links between them

What kind of structures can be found in the realms not reached by the state? This paper focuses on post-war societies and challenges the concept of the ‘weak state’ which has become the most-used approach to explain the political structure of such countries. The paper argues that beyond the state there tend to be different orders, partly with state-like structures, but rarely mere lawlessness and chaos. Such orders may exist at the community level, where societies organize themselves with own rules and authorities. There might be orders of violence, as in the ghettos of big cities or in territories dominated by militias. The system of the aid agencies and the UN organizations may show features of a self-referential socio-political order beside the state on whose territory they are operating. Large multinational companies investing in natural resources can develop a separate order with weak links to the state on whose ground they are producing. At the same time, states frequently are a source of uncertainty and extra-legal action against social groups.

In order to clarify the notion of competing orders, the paper firstly looks into sources of power of states and other socio-political orders existing on the same territory. Secondly it discusses the ways these orders are functioning and characterizes the ‘drivers’ which maintain them. Then it elaborates on the links (‘currencies’) between these orders and the mutual effects of these links on the orders and their structures in the process of exchange, using the example of South Sudan. Some conclusions will be drawn, highlighting possible means of ‘conversion’ which could moderate the driving forces causing the emergence of multiple orders or even create synergies between them.