Fragile states / Working Paper
State weakness
02/09/2008 By David Sogge
Under a variety of terms - weak states, fragile states, states in crisis, countries at risk of instability and low-income countries under pressure - the idea of state failure has become the subject of much attention. An ever-increasing flow of research and proposals for action have come from organisations in the West including the foreign aid system, philanthropic foundations, academic research units and military and security think-tanks.
Corbis
At the heart of discussions about state failure lies the definition of what states should be, in whose interest they should function, and thus for whom they fail or succeed. Driving today’s approach is the idea that states exist chiefly to promote globalisation’s winners and to police its losers. For Western geo-strategists, non-Western states have the role and duty before all else to protect the West and its interests; only if such tasks are being fulfilled may those states deal with their own situation.
In this paper, David Sogge takes issue with that position. If everyone’s security and well-being is to be safeguarded and improved, states should seek to ensure better life-chances for all citizens – a task which many proved capable of doing after the Second World War. However, in a globalized world, even strong states will not be sufficient.
Download the full version of this publication, available in English (450 kB)
Spanish (460 kB)
Keywords
Civil society Democracy Fragile state Political ReformRelated publications
- Fragile States - Options for Spain
- Fragile states and the new international disorder
- Fragile States: exploring the concept
- Under pressure: states in the global era
Bio author: David Sogge
David Sogge is a Fellow at the Transnational Institute, Amsterdam. He works as an independent analyst.
