Free Essay

Failed States

In: Social Issues

Submitted By couperp10
Words 1395
Pages 6
Failed states propose a great threat to global communities today. The notion of this threat comes from international terrorists, drug barons or weapons or arsenals (Anonymous, 2005) harbouring in failed states, which can bring harm to neighbouring or powerful countries. Somalia appears to be the very definition of what we call a failed state. The last time this desert country possessed anything approaching a “normal” government, with tax collection, social services and law enforcement was a under a bloody dictator named Siad Barre (Cockburn.2002). Now Somalia proposes the risk of consequences to the global community. Like Somalia, Pakistan is one of the failed states that are proving to have major consequences that we are seeing today. Terrorist Groups such as Taliban, Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba have established themselves as a state within a state (Boot 2008). These terrorist groups can now make major attacks, which killed more than 170 people in Mumbai alone (Boot 2008). This has become a subject of concern for that western countries have being debating over. The difficulties of trying to bring justice to these failed states is because of the odds of success are low and the risk of unintended consequences is very high (Zakaric, 2010). Since there is an awareness of being passive to these countries to avoid unintended fallouts, rather than taking action to implicate a justified government, there will be an ever-lasting threat to the global communities.
Somalia is a failed state that poses risks to the global community without dispute. Foreign Policy just published its annual failed states index, and for the third year running, Somalia ranks number one (Zakaric, 2010). Why is Somalia ranked first compared to all the other failed states? The main reason is because of a huge absence in law and order. This results in an huge increase of being attacked by pirates on the coast. These pirates are well known to loot, hijack and attack WFP (World Food Programming) convoys and other humanitarian relief shipments (Country Reports on Human Rights, 2007). Since there is such lack of law and order within Somalia the brewing trouble of an increasing of a terrorist breeding ground can occur (Anonymous, 2009). Al-Shebab, a leading terrorist organisation in Somalia released a video pledging there full allegiance to Al Qaeda (Anonymous, 2009). The video had a American spokes person showing footage of a terrorist training camp staring a former University of South Alabama student. The real threat global of this situation is if Al-Shabab wants to aspire to launch attacks against western countries the idea seems to be more plausible when Al Qaeda draft American passport holder into their own missions.
Somalia is also poses a threat to its neighbouring countries. Islamic militants in Somalia have threatened to come into Kenya, if Kenyan forces do not leave Somalia. This was written on an online message posted on a jihadist website (St Joseph News – Press, 2012). This was a result of Kenya attempting to intervene and bring a stop to Al Shabab terrorist groups. It also poses threats to global communities, showing the extreme the aggression of terrorist groups with in Somalia and how neighbouring countries have an immense risk of being attacked on their own soil.
The Danger that threats the global communities from countries in the middle east like Pakistan, is the weak economy and dysfunctional political system will feed off each other, with corruption and mismanagement stagnation and poverty that, in, turn, create and fuel more extremism.
Nearly a year on from the raid from the navy seals and the killing of Osama Bin Laden, Pakistani territory has fuelled public opposition towards the war on terror. The government is shaken and lacking the ability to control the country. Terrorist attacks have been on the rise besieging the economic capital (Phillips, 2011). As daunting as this is Pakistan’s problems are every bit as bad. Maha Khan Phillips the author of Pakistan: Failing Economy, Failed State that Pakistan’s “Growth has slowed to a crawl in recent years, unemployment and inflation are both high and rising and investment has plunged to a 40 tear low. Fully 60 percent of the country’s 187 million population are getting by on less than 2$ a day.”
Failed states in the Middle East are still pose major threats to global communities. Pakistan has been noted as the 12th failed state (Anonymous 2005) and has also been rumoured to be a new host country for the Taliban (The Economic, 2011). This growing threat has lead to the idea what happens if the Taliban do invade Pakistan and claim of their Nuclear weapons and Ballistic missiles which can have an outcome of the terrorists firing at countries thousands of miles away. Given these varies of threats of ruthless terrorist groups gaining control of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons it should be actively worrying India, Then United States, Europe, Russia and even Pakistan’s ‘all weather friend’ (China Economic Times, 2012). This is why it is in the global interest to do any means possible to stop an event like this from happening, because such outcomes will catastrophic. The other problem that the global community faces is the corruption of the government. Transparency International gave a definition of corruption being “The abuse of entrusted power among private gain” (South Asia Media, 2011). To their findings Pakistan stands at 123rd corrupt country, even more corrupt than several African countries. The corruption in Pakistan is deep rooted within the civil and military servants, public officials and Politian’s. This becomes a global community threat because with a corrupt government within Pakistan in places it can lead to military leaders and Politian’s to take bribes and could lead to extremists getting into power, which also may lead to an advantage for the terrorist groups.
The very big that shows the extent of how dangerous failed states of being a global threat, it’s the super powers countries not finding a solution to the problem at hand with failed states. Saundres Doug wrote in his article Failing to Find a Solution to Save a Failed State, “After 22 years of collapse, civil war, warlord armies, piracy, international terrorism and mass starvation emerging from Somalia and a string of often disastrous military and political interventions, big schemes of nation-building, humanitarian intervention and rapid regime change have lost their appeal.”
For countries like Pakistan and the Somalia, what can outside powers do to bring the rule of the law to these failing countries? In the 19th centuries, Western countries had a simple answer. The article “Somalia a Failed State” by Andrew Cockburn wrote: “European imperials would plant, their flag and impose laws at gun point. The territory that now comprises Pakistan was not entirely peaceful when it was under British rule. Nor was Somalia under Italian and British governors. But they were considerably better off than they are today – not only from the stand point of western countries but also from the stand point of their own countries.” However now the closest western countries have come to this is the invasion of Afghanistan. As time progressed countries have learnt of the high risk factor with trying to bring justice to failed states. As Cockburn writes again, “The difficulty with emulating these examples is not a lack of legitimacy. That can always be conferred by the U.N. or some other multilateral organization. Harder to overcome is a lack of will. Ragtag guerrillas have proven dismayingly successful in driving out or neutering international peacekeeping forces. Think of U.S. and French troops blown up in Beirut in 1983 or the "Black Hawk Down" incident in Somalia in 1993.” Countries that hold the power brings change can’t ignore the high fail rate and the immense risk factor of trying to implement forces to save these Failed States.
It is not only states that have failed but the interventions from other states have failed. With states standing passive around the issues of uprising extremists within Failed States, day by day the increased threat to global communities becomes larger. For years countries similar to Pakistan the response has been limited and inaffective. But we should not fool ourselves into thinking that any of these measures has much chance of success. Until we are willing to place more ungoverned spaces under international administration, evils such as piracy and terrorism will continue to flourish.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Failed States Research Paper

...Syria A Failed State Kellie Kingston Political Change and Conflict 200-02 States fail for various reasons. One of the main reasons states fail is when the citizens feel that they have limited or no freedom. When people feel as though they lack civil rights they are unhappy, and likely to revolt. When people are not treated fairly they have a tendency to want to either leave or fight back, making the state a difficult place to live. How they government handles rebellious situations is important to the future wellbeing of their state. The country’s economic development is crucial to the survival of a country, without a growing and strengthening economy a state is not likely to progress. If the economy is in crisis the state is destined to fail. Lack of education is...

Words: 2150 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Sudan: a Failed State

...What happens to a country when a rich and expensive fossil fuel like oil is discovered? Many people may assume that a nation with a significant amount of oil can bring growth, development, and prosperity because the price of oil is high bringing upon economic growth that can be invested to do numerous excellent things to a country. The cash flow going into an underprivileged state like Sudan should be invested towards infrastructure, education, and businesses to develop and improve living conditions to their populace. However, Sudan has become a failed state due to three decades of oil exploration that lead to conflict for political power, famine, and violence. In 1978, large discoveries of oil are found in Southern Sudan that initiated trouble between the North and South. In addition, President Numeiri launches the Islamic Sharia Law in Sudan, and develops the Unity State for oil exploration in the South without Southern representation. Moreover, he removes the native inhabitants of the Unity State which leads to outrage in Southern Sudan. As a result, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) is created, and a civil war breaks out involving the North central government and South. The civil war is just the beginning of the endless clashes for political power in Sudan. The discovery of oil causes famine and hunger throughout Sudan and affects about three million civilians by March 2001. The central government led by President Al-Bashir engineers famine on areas by Oil reserves...

Words: 516 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Do You Agree with the Suggestion That English Foriegn Policy Achieved Relative Success in the Period 1509-1525?

...a failure because of Wolsey’s mishandlings of the finance. For example in source 1 it states that ‘greatest weakness lay in the realm of finance’. This shows us that Wolsey did not know what he was doing when it came to finance which would have helped English foreign policy. Wolsey mishandling of finance would have led to less to money to help Henry invade France and therefore make on this part of his foreign policy, which was to take over France and to redeem his title as king of France , a failure because he didn’t really take over the whole off France. The whole real parts that henry had taken over of France was Tournai and Therouanne, and these were of little significant to England which supports the idea that the foreign policy was a failure. We can also infer from another source which support the idea that English foreign policy was a failure. In source 3 it says ‘if he fortunate to win it’. This is referring to Henry to taking over France, and we can clearly see that the foreign policy was a failure because only luck could have helped Henry take over France. This all indicates that foreign policy was not a success owing it to Wolsey mishandling of finance which meant that Henry would not have sufficient amount of money to take over the whole of France. Once again in source 1 we can see that Wolsey had mishandled finance which led to the failure of the English foreign policy. It states in source one that Wolsey could not increase the revenue, ‘neither make do with the existing...

Words: 1454 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Analysis of War Theory

...“Democratization and the Danger of War”, “Terrorism, the Use of Force, and International Law After 11 September”, and “Failed States: Fixing a Broken World” all describe and aim to formulate the motivations for modern wars between two states. By using historical precedents, each author makes assertions about war theory, leaving the reader with a framework to analyze conflicts occurring in the world today. While each entry makes a unique assumption, the content of arguments invariably overlaps. In my response I will examine each piece and the questions I was left with after contemplating the implications of their respective theories. In “Preventive War and Democratic Politics”, Levy first distinguishes preemptive wars from preventive wars, claiming that the former involves an immediate threat to a state’s safety while the latter is determined by the presence of a non-immediate threat—often an adversary “crossing a particular threshold of military power, leading to a stop-level power shift” (Levy, 7). He goes on to discuss that since the advent of nuclear military developments, the majority of wars have been preventive. This argument is logical because as the stakes are raised, states have the responsibility to their constituents to mitigate threats; citizens are much more willing to tolerate smaller skirmishes than risk the threat of an over-militarization of another state with different social and political values, beliefs, and goals. This theory has been manifested in my lifetime by...

Words: 896 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Do You Agree with the Suggestion in Source N That Henry and Wolsey Conducted and Effective Foreign Policy in the Years 1515-1525?

...probably a bias one whilst source M disagrees with the statement by highlighting ‘troubles associated from the Amicable Grant’. In source N (which is featured in a book wrote about Henry VIII at the time in question) contradicts itself to make its point. “Failed to bring great gains to the country, but it did thrust the country into a major role which that its wealth and population scarcely justified...” this makes the reader think that this was worth it for the positives it brought. There were many successes of their (Henry and Wolsey’s) foreign policy. Wolsey was a successful peace broker, and the treaty of London in 1518 was a great example of him ability. This treaty in 1518 was an agreement of peace which seemed to put England in to the centre of diplomatic affairs in Europe (which was what Henry wanted). The treaty bound France, Spain, the Papacy, HRE and England against the Turkish. At the time it seemed like a great success as it seemed to signify the end of fear of England being isolated in Europe, however in the long term it failed despite the short term success. Another success was the foreign policies flexibility despite England and the King having such low income and money. This is shown in source N by “Failed to bring great gains to the country, but it did thrust the country into a major role which that its wealth and population scarcely justified and made hard to sustain.” This source also implies Wolsey’s aim was to serve the king and maintain Henry’s honour...

Words: 795 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

The Transnational Security Threats from Failed States

...Failed and weak states are posing greater security threats to the world than it were ever imagined. The collapse of autonomy and sovereignty among states is therefore a susceptible situation in the modern world. Developed states like the United States and other notable security sensitive nations are focusing their security efforts towards the failed states. This is mainly because these weak states have become breeding sites for criminal activities, and terrorist groups have established strong bases in such countries. The challenges posed by these failed states on security issues are far-reaching, and reliable measures have to be taken in order to safeguard the safety of the global population. Many forms of transnational security threats have emerged, and international peace has persistently been compromised by this trend. Solomon Islands, Somalia, Afghanistan and Sudan are good examples of failed countries that have contributed in several ways to transnational insecurity (Wyler, 2010). This essay explores the issue of transnational security threats from failed states. In detail, this paper illustrates the specific security challenges that failed states have posed on the traditional security concerns in the world. While the failure of states is attributed to struggles for political liberalism, the lack of sovereignty and autonomy are the major factors contributing to collapse in some states (Bar-Joseph. 2001). Fragile or failed states are defined as nations which face extreme...

Words: 1317 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Its405 Portfolio Project Scenario

...be the same for all, because it is a well-known fact that numerous factors can result or add to the failure of a project. This was the case of the state of California and SAP Public Services who failed to implement a major IT payroll project that would modernize their current legacy system of 295,000 employees. As early as 1999, the State Controller’s Office (SCO) had been planning a project that would replace the current computer system. This system had been around since the early 1970’s with an outdated computer language that only a few dwindling computer technicians could understand. Through the services of SAP, “a global leader in providing payroll and human resources software” (Sweeney & Korber, 2013, p. 7), an off-the-self software would be customized to meet and maintain California’s complicated payroll for “roughly 300,000 employees in 160 departments with 21 different labor or bargaining units” (Sweeney & Korber, 2013, p. 7). On Oct. 4, 2005, Los Angeles Unified School District signed a whopping $95 million contract with SAP to use its software for payroll, financial management and procurement. This software would be modified and integrated into state departments and school. This daunting task would require its fair share of risked that even the none computer savvy could see coming. Just two days after the state bought its own SAP license, the SCO saw its first red flag. A private health provider, the Irish Health Service, turned in the towel on two SAP payroll...

Words: 561 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Sample

...COMPANY: Long Term Capital Management OVERVIEW: The following Case Study addresses an amazing Company called “Long Term Capital Management” (LTCM). This is a fascinating story of big time business and the ignored impact of the omnipresent timeless, Ten Early Warning Signals. These Signals can be controlled and converted into profitable success or perilously ignored at the risk of losses and eventual failure. DATE PREPARED: July 4, 2007 CASE STUDY PREFACE During our three decades of “hands on” Business Survival Consulting” assignments we would constantly push to improve Client profitability. Profit Improvement in one form or another is, of course, the foundation of a successful turnaround. During this process we clarified and expanded upon three axioms that, to a greater or lesser degree, are generally unknown and/or certainly under utilized in the quest to improve corporate profitability in American Business. These three axioms are: AXIOM ONE: “Key People Know” Who knows a company better than the key people in a company? Nobody does! The collective knowledge of key personnel, if properly focused and channeled, can be an omnipotent Profit Improvement force for top management in their Profit Improvement efforts. AXIOM TWO: “Crisis Avoidance and/or Crisis Correction” constitutes the basic operating environment of most “for profit” companies. In its most simple approximation, 20% of Businesses are generally crisis free. The next 60% of Businesses are involved in a series of minor...

Words: 6971 - Pages: 28

Premium Essay

Seven Years Wr

...closely at the Swedish case and how the state handled both internal and external pressures during the Seven Years War. It also talks about the communication between the commanding generals in Pomerania and the political leadership in Stockholm in order to understand what the Swedish army was ordered to do and how the generals became aware of the possibilities of fulfilling the orders that were given to them. It goes on with exploring how the Swedish government organized lending money during the war and what economic and political consequences their loans had in the country. It all leads to a better understanding of the resources that were available for welfare and how the population used the resources. The interplay between welfare, the raising of resources, and domestic politics in a smaller European state in the middle of the 18th century can be investigated. It explains Sweden’s role in the European States System. He explains how the European states system had a part of the formation of the Swedish state. Since the growth of the Swedish state in the 16th century and early 17th century was also associated with welfare and territorial expansionism. He also goes in to the borrowing of the countries, the debt they went in to because of it and goes a little bit in to the wars. Although the Swedish army did not expand to Persian territories, their military activities were still expensive and led to strains on the resources available to the state to support the troops in Swedish. There...

Words: 762 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Proposl

...Read: Sections 2:6 and 2:7 Assignment: Through internet research, identify at least one press release and one PSA and email me either the links to them, or, send them as email attachments by 6:00 pm 2/22/2016. Key Terms: Publics: sections of the community with particular interests or connections (e.g. Southern University is a community; students, faculty, staff, and administrators are all different publics, as are on-campus students v. commuters; tenured/tenure track faculty v. adjuncts; executive administrators v. middle managers). There are two means that public sector organizations use to communicate with various publics: 1) Press release—addressed to both media and public(s), a highly stylized message with frontloaded information and details meant to inform the public of upcoming events and important announcements AND grab attention of readers. Uses “inverted pyramid” with most important details first and most general information last (for media purposes). Commonly seen in: Newspapers, magazines, social media, flyers. 2) PSA – addressed to media and public(s), a specific kind of release aimed toward ensuring general welfare, i.e. public health, safety, community services. Are often less stylized than press releases, in the form of announcements (or scripts, if aimed to be read on television). Commonly seen in: Newspapers (as ads/in-kind ad space/advertorials), television, social media, flyers. The aim of each is to persuade—either...

Words: 780 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Time For Kids: Annotated Bibliography

...to a museum has this website readily available for them to view artifacts. http://smithsonianeducation.org/educators/index.html 3. This website leads to the government website of each state in the United States. Fourth grade is traditionally the grade where students research the state that they live in. However, students should learn about their state throughout all their education. This is because state history and symbols reflect how life was then, and how the past still affects life today. When using this website, I would assign each student with a state to research. Students would create a brochure of the information that they gathered, and highlight a few important facts in a form of a presentation. First, I like this website because it does not contain an overwhelming amount of information. This benefits students, because they are more likely to understand everything that they are reading. In addition, students get a glimpse of what events or people impacted the state that they researched. It is important for students to understand that even small things that happen in the state can have a great impact. Furthermore, with the creation of a brochure, students learn how to organize pertinent information, rendering them to become “tech-savvy”. https://kids.usa.gov/learn-about-the-states/index.shtml 4. Ducksters is a children’s website that provides many biographies about people in history such as philosophers from Ancient Greece, to modern inventors such as Henry Ford...

Words: 961 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Beneficiary Definition

...from one state to another, legal consequences of casual wording and unexpected real life events adds up to many opportunities for things to go wrong. Seemingly minor differences in wording can be the difference between a smooth financial transition upon your demise or the start of a long and costly legal battle for your relatives in the aftermath of your death. For example, you should never use any of the following words to name a beneficiary: husband, wife or spouse. Doing so can create a huge can of worms that will suddenly come open upon the event of your death. Instead, you should use the legal name of your spouse. This practice makes things much clearer in cases where your circumstances have changed substantially in the time between taking out the initial policy and the time of your demise. Life happens. Perhaps when you took the policy out, it was your first marriage and your life and finances were both relatively simple. But, due to unforeseeable events, such as a divorce or even the death of your spouse, you later remarried. Using the full legal name of the intended beneficiary avoids creating the legal question of "Who is this 'spouse' that is entitled to the benefits of this policy?" The word 'spouse' introduces ambiguity. Does it refer to the person to whom you were married when you took out the policy? Or does it refer to the person to whom you were married when you passed away? Even if your first spouse has died, this can be a very thorny issue. State laws,...

Words: 1461 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Data Deprivation

...influential than government authority, this is especially prevalent in the arenas of communication, in particular the dissemination of information. As a result the information which usually comes from the same source(same corporate powers) are able to utilize this power by making their own actions and authority covert while actually diverting the public's or society's attention away from much needed socially beneficial and essential information. Schiller constructs his argument by discussing data deprivation and how freedom of expression is often seen as having the vulnerability of being impinged on by the State. As a result individuals and social movements throughout time have battled against the amount of censorial power a state can yield over its citizens (Schiller, 1996). Presently, the more powerful yet seemingly subtle threat to freedom of expression is not the State but rather private corporate powers, “Today, the power of huge,private,economic enterprises is extended across national and international boundaries, influencing and directing economic resource decisions, political choices, and the production and dissemination of messages and images” (Schiller,1996).Corporations use the guise of governments as being the only source of hindering individual expression. Two examples given are that the corporation is considered an individual according to the Supreme Court and Freedom Forum Foundation utilizes the First Ammendment in the New York Times but yet this Freedom Forum...

Words: 1097 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Is War

...then attribute it responsibility for their commencing. However, what can be done is to identify certain foundations common in all “war”, and pay heed to how “states [or other structures] actually behave, behind the façade of their values-based rhetoric” (Kaplan, 2012, p.1). It will be this essay’s goal to determine first, what needs be included in the definition of “human nature”, and what constitutes “war”, and second, stake the claim that all political action, including that of states, is derived primarily from this definition of human nature. The first task is to define what is meant by “war”, and while definitions abound, it is possible to order them into one of two categories supplied by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. The first is the modern conventional view, that war is “the state of armed conflict between nations or states” (Oxford, 2007, p.3573), and the second, considerably broader, of “any active hostility or struggle between living beings” (Oxford, 2007, p.3573). The former accounts well for conflicts that were overwhelmingly state-centric, such as the First World War, and marks a clear distinction between war and individual political violence: war is the business of states. However, is the Vietnam War to be understood—like the Korean—as a simple north versus south conflict, despite the northern state only assuming active involvementnine years after indigenous fighting broke out in 1955? (Young, 1991, p. 123) The second category, while accounting correctly...

Words: 2214 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

When Genius Failed

...When Genius Failed, written by Roger Lowenstein, depicts a grappling tragic story of Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund setup by John Meriwether, assembling with brilliant market traders and academics as partners including two Nobel Memorial Prize winners. They initially procured incredible profit by successfully chased arbitrage opportunities, but ultimately fall to the ground due to their inaccurately judgment of market’s movement and overly manipulate of leverage, which lead to its marvelous rate of return of more than 40 percent per year in four years quickly ended by losing 4.5 billions in as short as five weeks. By analyzing and providing convincing arguments toward Long-Term Capital Management’s failure, Roger contributed to offer those greedy market traders a wake-up call and a lesson that merits attention. On no account can we ignore the risk aroused by taking advantage of leverage. However, this is precisely one of the most significant reasons that broke Long-Term Capital Management down. As Roger mentioned, at the time they got involved into the trade of home mortgage securities, when the model indicated that “ the IO price seemed so out of whack”, they “once again” made use of a vast leverage by investing 2 billions into the trade, which is highly risky. If a person challenged this by pointing out that this group of smallest people expertise in bond trade, how would people explain the action of them by stepping in equity volatility trade and still trying to...

Words: 378 - Pages: 2