States against Nations: Meritocracy, Patronage, and the Challenges of Bureaucratic Selection

Join NYSEAN for a talk by Nicholas Kuipers about his new book, States Against Nations (Cambridge University Press, 2025). In his book, Kuipers questions the virtues of meritocratic recruitment as the ideal method of bureaucratic selection. He argues that while civil service reform is often seen as an admirable act of state-building, it can actually undermine nation-building. Throughout the book, he shows that in countries with high levels of group-based inequality, privileged groups tend to outperform marginalized groups on entrance exams, leading to disproportionate representation in government positions. This dynamic exacerbates intergroup tensions and undermines efforts towards nation-building. Drawing on large-scale surveys, experiments, and archival documents, States Against Nations provides a thought-provoking perspective on the challenges of bureaucratic recruitment and unearths an overlooked tension between state- and nation-building.