Failed States in a World of Terror

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Council on Foreign Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Foreign Affairs. THE ROAD TO HELL IN THE WAKE of September 1i, the threat of terrorism has given the problem of failed nation-states an immediacy and importance that transcends its previous humanitarian dimension. Since the early 199os, wars in and among failed states have killed about eight million people, most of them civilians, and displaced another four million. The number of those impoverished, malnourished, and deprived of fundamental needs such as security, health care, and education has totaled in the hundreds of millions. Although the phenomenon of state failure is not new, it has become much more relevant and worrying than ever before. In less interconnected eras, state weakness could be isolated and kept distant. Failure had fewer implications for peace and security. Now, these states pose dangers not only to themselves and their neighbors but also to peoples around the globe. Preventing states from failing, and resuscitating those that do fail, are thus strategic and moral imperatives. But failed states are not homogeneous. The nature of state failure varies from place to place, sometimes dramatically. Failure and weak ness can flow from a nation's geographical, physical, historical, and ROBERT I. ROTBERG is Director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and President of the World Peace Foundation. His most recent book is EndingAutocracy, Enabling Democracy: The Tribulations ofSouthernAfrica. He is also the editor of two forthcoming books on preventing state failure.

The US Army and Future Security Force Assistance Operations

“…Writing in Foreign Affairs Robert Rothberg stated that, "In the wake of September 11, the threat of terrorism has given the problem of failed nation-states an immediacy and importance that transcends its previous humanitarian dimension" 27 …the expansion of DOD non-military programs could erode the effectiveness of delivery of foreign assistance. The planning and implementation of programs for governance, policing, law enforcement, and economic development are not core skills in DOD.…”

“…Writing in Foreign Affairs Robert Rothberg stated that, "In the wake of September 11, the threat of terrorism has given the problem of failed nation-states an immediacy and importance that transcends its previous humanitarian dimension" 27 Within the developing world, those states which have made the least progress and have remained mired in low income and high poverty levels have been the most prone to conflict, while those which have done relatively better have reduced the risks of conflict and insecurity….there is a close empirical relationship between civil war and low income. Poverty increases the likelihood of civil war and war is a prime cause of poverty.…”

Contested Narratives, Ambiguous Impacts and Democratic Dilemmas: The Western News Media and the “War on Terror”

“…In conventional wars, strong enemy states are the source of the problem, while in terrorism some analysts (Rotberg 2002) are arguing that failed states and weak states are the breeding grounds of contemporary terrorism. Terrorists cannot be militarily defeated unless new recruitment can be stopped.…”

Unipolaridade, governabilidade global e intervenção unilateral anglo-americana no Iraque

“…que as instituições que regulam a ordem da política e da segurança internacional estão obsoletas (Glennon, 2003). Não é um fato recente que a Assembléia Geral e o Conselho de Segurança da ONU não podem ser considerados como base da ordem mundial, em um mundo onde os estados de direito historicamente vêm crescendo em progressão aritmética e as tiranias e as cleptocracias em progressão geométrica (Chua, 2003;Rotberg, 2002). Diferentemente, as instituições de Bretton Woods são bastante realistas por estarem fundadas no diferencial de riqueza entre os Estados.…”