In the context of state building, Chitral and Swat have been affected by similar process of state-penetration. A transformational change that constitutes one of the major sources of civil war. Besides, when evaluated on the basis of space varying conditions causally associated with the occurrence of civil war. Chitral and Swat exhibit considerably similarity. Which implies that the likelihood of civil war occurrence was same for these administrative units of the state of Pakistan. In spite, Swat descended into instability and violence while in Chitral the stability and order remained intact. Using the strategies of qualitative comparative analysis this study explores this anomalous situation: To understand the reasons behind the divergence of state-society relations within the boundary of a state. The findings suggest that the variation is explained by the situation of state’ relevancy. The acceptance and rejections of the authority of state is contingent of the value it holds for a given group of people. If dependence on state apparatus is high and public employment is a source of upward social mobility the state manages to earn popular acceptance with limited capacity. Moreover, the role of spatial context is key in shaping these dynamics. Supervisor:- Dr. Junaid Alam Memon