139000498 Book Review 139000498 1 IPM3820 - POWER AND POSTWAR RECONSTRUCTION: A CRITICAL APPROACH Chandler, David. Empire in Denial: The Politics of State-Building. London: Pluto Press, 2006. In Empire in Denial 1 , David Chandler deeply challenges the state-ďuildiŶgs discourses and practices of Western states and international institutions in offering an interesting reflexion explaining the failures of state-building interventions. He also presents a persuasive analysis of how state-building approaches are a reflection of Western states self-perception and of certain assumptions underpinning their foreign policy. This book review is constituted of two parts: first, a review of ChaŶdleƌs keLJ aƌguŵeŶts aŶd theŶ, a discussion about the added value and the limitations of his book. Core argument & Key points The Đoƌe assuŵptioŶ of ChaŶdleƌs ďook is that the actual Western state-building approach (defined as ĐoŶstƌuĐtiŶg oƌ ƌeĐoŶstƌuĐtiŶg iŶstitutioŶs of goǀeƌŶaŶĐe Đapaďle of pƌoǀidiŶg ĐitizeŶs ǁith phLJsiĐal aŶd eĐoŶoŵiĐ seĐuƌitLJ 2 ) towards non-Western states does not work, in the sense that it does not succeed in restoring these states capacity to govern themselves autonomously, and result on the contrary in the transformation of these states iŶ phaŶtoŵ states 3 (that is, because of their lack of self-goǀeƌŶŵeŶt, states ǁhiĐh ĐaŶŶot ďe ƌeĐogŶised oƌ legitiŵised as eŵďodLJiŶg a ĐolleĐtiǀe expression of theiƌ soĐieties 4 ), depending largely on external resources and fundamentally lacking of social and political legitimacy. 5 Interestingly, he displays how the state-building approaches are linked to academic 6 as well as political 7 disĐouƌses piĐtuƌiŶg ǁeak aŶd failiŶg states 8 as threats not only for themselves, but also 1 David Chandler, Empire in Denial: The Politics of State-Building (London: Pluto Press, 2006). 2 Chandler, Empire, 1. 3 Chandler, Empire, 24. 4 Chandler, Empire, 44. 5 Chandler, Empire, 9. 6 See, e.g., Francis Fukuyama, State-Building: Governance and World Order in the Twenty-first Century (London: Profile Books, 2004).