State Capacity Quotes

Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.

The desire for a democratic political system does not by itself create the capacity for establishing one.

If the state is strong, it crushes us. If it is weak, we perish.

No Secretary of State can give constant personal care to more than a few problems among the global abundance.

Democratic nation states remain far more capable of managing the circuit of coercion, taxation and legitimation than any transnational bodies.

No state, without being soon exhausted, can maintain above the hundredth part of its members in arms and idleness.

Counter insurgency is unworkable without a responsive and politically popular national government.

The question today is not whether the government is too small or too small, but whether or not it works

The way to end corruption is a progressive, policy driven state with proper implementation.

In doing their work, they [NGOs -- Non-governmental organizations] often end up undermining the government. They hire away its best people, and more fundamentally, their prominence teaches citizens to look to them for service rather than to pressure the government to provide them. This tension between wanting to replace an ineffective state and trying not to undermine it further is a common one faced by outside actors…

The absence of state capacity - that is, of the services and protections that people in rich countries take for granted - is one of the major causes of poverty and deprivation around the world.

The chief threats to security come from failed states.

Then this will only prove again and again, that Monarchy in Germany is he longer capable of a national act.

The question of our time is rapidly becoming can government get things done?

No government can provide social security. It is not in the nature of government to be able to provide anything. Government itself is not self-supporting. It lives by taxation. Therefore, since it cannot provide for itself but by taking toll of what the people produce, how can it provide social security for the people?

I have come from outside Delhi, but I give you an assurance that the people in the Government are very capable. I want to awaken and unite that power for the welfare of nation.

Most persons think that a state in order to be happy ought to be large; but even if they are right, they have no idea of what is a large and what a small state.... To the size of states there is a limit, as there is to other things, plants, animals, implements; for none of these retain their natural power when they are too large or too small, but they either wholly lose their nature, or are spoiled.

Meeting the challenges of the future requires a state that can think and act strategically.

Folks, this government isn't too big to fail, it's too big to succeed.

The government understands - every government, every administration, both parties, understands - that that power, they just don't have.

We tend to look at countries in terms of failed states and functioning states, which is rather simplistic.

Some people think African states cannot be trusted with the cookie jar. But there are absolutely good NGOs who have this feeling of human solidarity and who also recognize that their work can only be supplementary to the government.

Victory or defeat in interstate war depends on numerous factors, but what is ultimately decisive is the relative amount of economic resources at a government's disposal.

A limited government is much more likely to be a competent government.

I do think there are some irreducible inefficiencies in government. But we still need to have government; we still need to make government effective if we can.