Failed States - Report Example

Failed s The origin of the can be traced back to early civilizations and the work of political theorists such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Max Weber. In the state of nature, Hobbes recognized the sovereignty of states as well as leaders and argued that society could not exist without power of the state while Locke argued that the role of the state is to safeguard people’s rights and if a leader fails in this obligation, the society has a right to remove him/her from power. Weber on the other hand, argues that the role of the state was to monopolize legitimate use of physical force within its borders and if it fails to do so, then it becomes a failed state. As such, only the state was allowed to use violence. As such, the concept of “failed states” is not a new phenomenon. However, a consensus on the definition of what constitutes a “failed state” has not been reached. Chomsky defines ‘failed states’ as those “that do not protect their citizens from violence and perhaps even destruction, that regard themselves as beyond the reach of domestic or international law, and that suffer from a ‘democratic deficit,’ having democratic forms with limited substance” (Chomsky 2). This means these states can subject their citizens to violence as they are not answerable to any law. This is in line with Hobbes view that states can authorize use of force without being accountable to society. The Fund for Peace which develops the Failed (Fragile) States Index (FSI) categorizes states according to 12 social, economic and political indicators that reflect state legitimacy, group governance, uneven development and human rights. According to these criteria, “failed states” are those that have characteristics such as: little control of much of territory; non-provision of public services; widespread corruption and criminality; refugees and involuntary movement of population and economic decline (FFP, Indicators). Others like Ghani and Lockhart would like to call it “sovereignty gap” referring to the incapability of countries labeled as sovereign states to serve populations and act as responsible members of international community (chap 1). For them, the world is divided into two halves; one half of globe is a seamless web of political , financial, and technological connections while the other half comprises of those blocked from political stability and participation in global wealth and these include: Africa, Central Asia, Latin America and Middle East (chap 1). South Sudan ranks top on FSI followed by Somalia. This paper is to discuss the ‘failed’ states in order to understand who they are and what can be done to remedy this problem. What are ‘failed’ states? As stated earlier, such states are too weak that they lack the capacity to control their borders, provide citizens with basic services or enhance democracy. Sometimes these states are regarded as ‘rogue,’ ‘fragile’ or ‘collapsed’ states due to their level of lawlessness and economic decline. However, Bilgin and Morton argue that these labels are only representations that enable certain policies which serve economic, political and security interests of those who employ them” (Bilgin & Morton 56). To this, they were mostly concerned with the Western world and in particular U.S and UK who label those states as ‘failed” hence a threat to global peace and order and warranting international intervention. It is thus not easy to explain what failed states are as it all depends on the interests of the labeling parties. Prime Minister Gordon Brown regarded the failing states as “as great a potential threat as nuclear weapons proliferation” (Jeffrey 43). This shows the magnitude of threat such countries pose to global order and to their own citizens hence are a security threat. Such countries since they are not able to monopolize legitimate use of physical force as envisaged by Weber, allow other paramilitary groups and terrorism to thrive. Jeffrey considers them as lacking the capacity and will to address terrorism and organized crime (43). This state of anarchy and consequently terrorism spills over to the world economy and thus the occurrence of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S by men believed to be Al-Qaeda a terrorist group in Iraq. Collier on the other hand considers them as the “Bottom Billion” as they represent one-sixth of the world population which is six billion (Xi). The rest comprise one billion of developed country and four billion of developing countries population. He also considers leaders of such countries as psychopaths and crooks although some of them are brave enough to institute reforms. Due to the problems they cause to global order and stability, Collier advices the international community to ignore such countries at their own peril. Some of the countries considered as ‘failed’ states include: South Sudan, Somalia, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, and East Timor among others. In total they are 58 countries. An interesting aspect is that it is not only the least developed countries that fall under this category of ‘failed’ states but also developed nations such as the U.S and France. The Fund for Peace (FFP) FSI ranked France as the seventh most worsened country going by the twelve indicators while Singapore and U.S were ranked eighth (FFP nap). Most especially the U.S has been blamed for causing the same disorder it is trying to eliminate through its security strategies; For example, its invasion of Iraq in 2003 was uncalled for and ended up escalating human suffering. Also the “war on terror” propaganda by UK and US has ended up creating disorder in some countries (Jeffrey 45-46). Chomsky one of the critics of U.S strategies charges it as a “failed state” hence a danger to its own people and the world as witnessed by escalation of nuclear risk, dangerous occupation of Iraq, self-exemption from international law and its electoral system that frustrates genuine political alternatives (Chomsky 3-38). Although U.S is a signatory to many international laws, it rarely ratifies them. This leads us to the question, do ‘failed’ states exist or they are just political constructions by the developed world? Jeffrey argues that categorization of states into ‘failed states’ is not a new phenomena as it happened in the 1960s and 70s when it was applied to Nigeria, Angola and Zaire (44). However, it has received much policy attention in post-Cold War era and most especially after the 9/11 attacks in the U.S as the world woke up to the reality of the danger they are exposed to. Since then the UK and US have been using such terms in their security strategies especially on their “war on terror” efforts to categorize countries into fragile and weak states (potential threat), failed states (probable threat) and rogue states (imminent threat) based on the amount of threat they pose to global order. The political effects of such labeling leads to development of strategies for intervention in such states; both technical and humanitarian. According to Jeffrey, ‘the declarations have biopolitical and geopolitical components which act in tension” (45). Biopolitical perspective involves intervening in such states to save human life as the said states have failed to protect citizens. Geopolitical on the other hand, involves territorializing deviance and culpability within borders and states in question. This entails considering states as sovereign hence responsible for protecting their citizenry and liable for any consequences. For example, Iraq was considered a threat due to terrorism hence interventions in 2003 while its neighbor Iran though vulnerable to the same problem was not. This was because Iran was to be of help in the fight in Iraq. Another example of territorialization is when Africa is branded as a threat to rest of the world due to underdevelopment. The tension between biopolitical and geopolitical according to Jeffrey, “constructs space for powerful state actors to advance development agenda upon neoconservative and neoliberal ideals” (45). This means UK and US label states as ‘failed’ so as to advance their development agenda and spread democratic ideals. According to this theory, the real reason for invading Iraq was to democratize it and not because it had failed. For Bilgin and Morton, such labels further the economic, political and security interests of those who employ them (56). It is also a key for justifying military intervention by such nations. This is especially so for U.S that asserts right to intervene against ‘failed’ states around the globe (Chomsky 1). Whether ‘failed’ states is a construction of the West or not, it is however clear that some nations do pose a threat to their citizens as they are constantly in conflict or Civil War, have failed to provide basic services and are not accountable to citizens hence are dogged by corruption and economic decline hence can be considered as “failed states” and a threat to the rest of the world. Examples of countries torn by Civil War include Somalia, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Afghanistan, Iraq and Haiti. The ‘failed states’ would like to come out of the situation and prosper like the rest of the world but the real challenge for those countries according to Collier is development. These bottom billion states are so poor and trapped by conflicts, natural resources, and bad governance and landlocked with bad neighbors which make it hard for them to get out (Collier 5). Unless something is done to help them get out of these traps and catch up with other developing and developed countries, their fate is sealed. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the international community uses the same methods they used decades ago to alleviate this problem hence no success has been achieved so far. Moreover, the same nations who claim to protect the world are the same ones propagating such problems in some nations through their intervention policies. Chomsky claims that the hegemonic power has “asserted itself the right to wage war at will using the doctrine of ‘anticipatory self-defense’ without bounds” (Chomsky 2). This ends up worsening the situation than solving it. However, if some states like China and India and the Asian countries were able to escape the traps and progress, other nations can follow suit although it won’t be as easy as it was for such nations as those who escape find a new problem in the form of globalization that locks them out. The change it is said should also start from within and international community to come in with help in devising good policies. Most often, if the change comes from external intervention, it backfires due to resistance by such states as new form of colonialism. This happened when the IMF and World Bank put conditionalities for reform while giving aid to developing countries. These structural adjustment programs backfired as the citizens did not own them; they were imposed thus leaders claimed it is a violation of their sovereignty. Some countries promised to make reforms but never did. For example, Kenya during President Moi’s government promised the same reforms 5 times over a period of 15 years which were never effected (Collier 109). This is supported by Ghani and Lockhart who argue that only sovereign states that perform functions associated with a sovereign state can enhance human progress (chap 1). Moreover, this solution of one size fits all is outdated and each state has particular circumstances which should be treated differently. One characteristic of ‘failed’ states is failure to secure its citizens. This is what Collier refers as “conflict trap” (18). Conflict for Collier is inherent to politics and involves Civil War and Coup d’état. The situation is pathetic as 73% of states are rocked in Civil War at one time or another, 29% in politics of natural resources, 3% are landlocked with bad neighbors and 76% have bad governance and poor economic policies (Collier 79). These Civil Wars and coups are propagated by rebel groups as a way of having their grievances listened to and solved although some groups do it for self interest. The wars are the result of low income, natural resources and economic decline. Since the economy is weak, the state is also weak to quell a rebellion. Furthermore, the youths who engage in it only need some cash to be motivated as evidenced by Laurent Kabila of Zaire who claimed that he only needed $10,000 for the rebellion (21). This shows how cheaply the cost of war is leading to massive deaths and deployment of people from their homes to become refugees. Some of this finance comes from the Diaspora and interested parties. The challenge is that if a nation experiences conflict, the likelihood of it manifesting itself again is very high thus hindering growth. Conflict also results from the need to control natural resources by some groups such as in Nigeria (oil) and Angola (diamonds). This is more evident in Angola whereby rebels the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) holds diamonds and the government Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) holds oil. Both groups use those resources to wage Civil War and the outcome is a prolonged war and increased military spending, health system collapse, and epidemics which hinder growth and threaten to wipe out the population (Collier 26-2; Global Policy Forum). The Global Policy forum puts oil and natural gas as the most conflict prone. Others include water, timber, and minerals. Some states are riddled with ethnic dominance hence increased risk of war as in Rwanda and Burundi war of Hutus and Tutsis and Iraq. Other states such as Uganda, Cote d’ivore and Nepal have been involved in coup d’états. Natural Resources for exports are viewed as a boost to the economy by earning foreign exchange. However, to most developing countries, natural resources are a curse and hindrance to growth. This is because they make the country to concentrate on resource exports and neglect other sectors of the economy. For example, primary products for export such as coffee and tea or food crops are neglected. This is evident in Nigeria which concentrated on oil revenue at the expense of primary products such as peanuts and cocoa (Collier 38). This hurts the basic foundation of society leading to poverty. Moreover, labor-intensive manufactures are neglected hence development of skills hindered. Natural resources are also volatile and this can plunge the country into crises especially if prices fall in the world market. Successful nations such as India and China were able to escape this trap through good governance and management and engaging in labor-intensive manufactures. Resources are also viewed as a hindrance to democratic governments in favor of autocracy. This is because citizens are not subjected to taxation and as such; do not have a role in policing the government and holding it accountable. Moreover, politicians use such resources to bribe citizens in order to cling to power hence autocratic rule persists (50). Although there is electoral competition in such countries, there are no checks and balances required of a good democracy hence power is abused. One of the countries which were able to get out of this trap was Botswana through use of democracy. It ensures diamond contracts are bid competitively and bring minimum return on investment hence growth. Another characteristic of ‘failed’ states is that they are landlocked with bad neighbors. A good example is Uganda which is landlocked and surrounding countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi) are of no help as they are also poor and have poor infrastructure. This makes Uganda to spend a lot on transport thus hindering growth. Besides, such states are at the mercy of coastal neighbors and according to Collier, they should not have been sovereign states in the first place but polities of coastal states (57). Good news is that such countries can adopt other measures such as open-skies policy to tap global market as in the case with Nigeria or become haven for the region by having superior policies than neighbors thus gaining comparative advantage. They can also engage in rural development as it is the backbone of the economy. Failed states are also accused of bad governance and poor policies leading to corruption and criminality. Though aid is given to such states through bilateral or multi-lateral channels, it rarely reaches the destined place or project due to corruption. According to Ghani and Lockhart, illegal financial flows are larger than annual government budgets due to corruption and bad governance” (Chap 1). These leaders steal funds especially from natural resources and stuck them in banks abroad especially Swiss bank leaving little for development and thus impoverishing citizens. Ghani and Lockhart claim that for the past 20years, aid amounting to $300 billion has been spent on Africa but still people die of AIDS, malaria, malnutrition and no education. This means that such funds do not benefit the common citizen as they do not have a stake in success or failure of their countries. As a result, between 1945 and 1990, the region has had sixteen peace keeping interventions due to conflicts (chap 1). Various measures have been put in place over the years to help ‘failed’ states participate in the global economy. These include aid both financial and technical, military assistance, and humanitarian assistance. However, these have not worked due to the bad governance and bad policies by such states. Chomsky attributes this failure to double standards or rather “single standard” applied by developed countries to serve own interests (5). A good example is the refusal by American government to extradite Louis Posada a terrorist to Venezuelan government while at the same time passing a bill to bar aid to countries that refuse extradition requests from U.S. Besides, such countries have massive capital flight and immigration leaving them with no capability for growth. One country that managed to recover was Singapore under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew and has now become a global economic power. By 1995 its GDP per capita (US$26000) surpassed that of UK (US $19700) (Chap 1). This was due to good leadership or governance. At first, it was controlled by trade unions lead to insurgency by 1965. It was also rid with corruption and minimal economic development but Yew turned that upside down. At first, he used minimal aid and then eliminated aid completely and relied on soft loans from World Bank until 1990s when it became self sufficient. A country which has not yet recovered despite so many interventions is Somalia. The state had once collapsed and America tried to intervene to no avail as it left after its soldiers suffered many casualties (Collier 48-50). The area is a hub for terrorists in the name of AL-Shaabab and also ridden with conflict hence is ungovernable. Even with the intervention of Kenyan soldiers and AMISOM it is still very far from recovery due to this terror group. Conclusion The “failed states” are those that are unable to provide basic services to citizens have less control of their territory, poor governance and bad policies, involuntary migration and refugees and are at an economic decline. They pose a threat to global community as they are hubs for terrorists and criminality and also push others down when they do not grow. Some are ridden with conflicts involving Civil Wars and coups thus are unable to progress. The top ranked country as per Fragile States Index is South Sudan followed by Somalia. The one size fits all measures so far taken to help these countries recover has not succeeded due to poor governance and corruption as well as conflicts. What is needed is a new approach to the problem by looking at each state’s situation and dealing with it separately and including the people and leaders of that state in the process otherwise it will lead to resistance. However, not all is gloomy as some states like China, India, Singapore have managed to recover from this situation setting a good example to others. Works Cited Bilgin, P and Morton, D. Historicing the Representation of “failed States”: Beyond the Cold War Annexation of The Social Sciences. Third World Querterly, 23.1 (2002): 55-80. Chomsky Noam. Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy, Penguin Books, 2007. Collier Paul. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Falling and What Can be Done About It, Oxford University Press, 2007. Fund For Peace. http://global.fundforpeace.org Global Policy Forum. https://www.globalpolicy.org Ghani Ashraf and Lockhart Clare. Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World, Oxford University Press, 2008 Jeffrey Alex. Containers of Fate: Problematic States and Paradoxical Sovereignty, In: A. Ingram and K. Dodds. Spaces of Security and Insecurity: Geographies of the War on Terror, 2012. Read More