Governmental capacity means top-down control, distinct from infrastructural coordination

Evidence

Governmental capacity strongly affects the chances for democratic processes. That statement could be read as a tautology, if capacity simply meant coordination among all political actors. Michael Mann makes the important distinction between despotic and infrastructural power: “We must distinguish between the two principal meanings of a strong regime: power over civil society, that is, despotism; and the power to coordinate civil society, that is, infrastructural strength” (Mann 1986, 477). In Mann’s terms, governmental capacity centers on top-down despotic power: the extent to which the actions of governmental agents affect the distributions and deployments of people, activities, and resources within the government’s territory. Infrastructural power, in the same terms, refers to consequences of the regime as a whole, certainly including governmental agents, but also including members, challengers, and citizens at large. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 159

Categorization

• DEFINE: Resolves Tilly’s capacity axis against Mann’s despotic/infrastructural distinction — central to the reader’s capacity-democracy matrix.
• XREF: The reader’s matrix project needs this precise axis definition; also links to social-capital and institutions literature noting trust regimes use coercive concentration. — connects to: A government is defined as the coercion-wielding organization holding priority over all others — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 122; Expanding state authority paradoxically erodes its de facto control and efficiency — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1726; Modern state power diffuses control through continuous measured mechanisms rather than personal command (+2 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 159

Broader Connections

• Modern state power diffuses control through continuous measured mechanisms rather than personal command #qualifies (0.82)
• Governance by incentives and benchmarks replaces top-down law and rule #qualifies (0.80) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 56
• Heterarchical, distributed control can outperform strict hierarchy under changing conditions. #complicates (0.80) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 113
• Expanding state authority paradoxically erodes its de facto control and efficiency #complicates (0.78) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1726