Defining state

and
types of states
Insurgency and Terrorism
Outline
• As can be seen from the typologies of insurgency, there are a
number of positives and negatives of a group remaining pure
in form, and we often see a crossover amongst the elements,
again making insurgent groups harder to define.
• Now that both terrorism and insurgency have been assessed,
it is necessary to focus on the concept of state failure and get
an understanding of how it is defined and what its main
features are.
Defining a strong State
• A state in its strongest form is essentially characterised as
being a set of institutions that possess the authority to make
the rules that govern the people in one or more societies, and
which has both internal and external sovereignty over a
definite territory.
• These states exist mainly to deliver public goods, i.e.
security, education, healthcare, and political and economic
protection.
Defining a strong State
• These strong states control their territories to the maximum possible
level and deliver to their people a complete range of political goods.
• Strong states also perform well when assessed under such indicators as
GDP per capita, economic competition, and social pacification.
• With regard to this understanding of what a state should be, a strong
state can be classified as that which offers high levels of security from
political and criminal violence, ensures political freedom and civil
liberties, and creates environments that are conducive to the growth of
economic opportunity.
State Failure
• When a state fails to deliver significantly on any of these elements it is
said to be in the process of failure. If these basic functions of state are
not met, the state can be classed as being, to some degree, a failed state.
• Three of the main ways that allow us to understand whether a state is
heading towards failure are to look at how it functions in the areas of
security, politics, and economics.
• A failed state is a state that can no longer perform its basic security and
development functions, essentially having no effective control over its
territory or borders.
State Failure
• When a state becomes unable to carry out its duties, it begins to
deteriorate through a spectrum of failure, the first level being
state weakness.
• Weak states can be understood as being those that have
witnessed a significant number of armed challenges to its
central authority, where the government has difficulty in
controlling its borders and territory, and where the government
has difficulty in providing basic services to its citizens.
State Failure
• The term ‘failed state’ serves as a broad term or label for a phenomenon that
can be interpreted in numerous ways.
• There are three specific elements that categorise failed states from both the
legal and political point of view:
1. Firstly, there are geographical and territorial aspects that depict failed states
as being associated with internal and endogenous problems, even if these
problems have cross-border impacts.
2. Secondly, there is the political aspect, which involves the internal collapse
of law and order.
3. Finally, there is what has been termed the functional aspect.
State Failure
When describing what a failed state looks like:
• It is essentially one that can no longer perform its basic security and development
functions;
• in which there is no control over territory or borders;
• where the machinery of the state, i.e. the institutions, are unable to function;
• where the state is incapable of projecting or asserting its power and authority within its
borders, thus leaving large areas of land completely out of the control of the government;
• where security is almost non-existent; and
• where rising levels of ethnic, religious, linguistic, and cultural hostilities interfere with
daily politics.
State Failure
• These states provide limited, if any, political goods to
their citizens, including a severe lack of education,
healthcare, and security.
• Therefore, it can be argued that a failed state is one
that can no longer reproduce the conditions of its own
existence, i.e. it is no longer sovereign and therefore
no longer classified as being a state.
Charachteristics of Failed State
• Failed states are thus characterised by the gaps that they have in three
main crucial areas:
1. where these states are failing to control their borders and territories;
2. that they are failing to meet the most basic needs of the citizen’s e.g.
healthcare, security and education; and
3. where they are failing to secure and/or maintain democratic
legitimacy.
• Also, there is the fact that they are not providing effective or
transparent governance.
Collapsed State
• A fully collapsed state is the most extreme version of a failed state and
is a rare phenomenon.
• Collapsed states have been defined as being mere geographical
expressions of a state.
• These states may have collapsed internally (e.g. Somalia), but they are
still recognised by other states and international organisations, such as
the United Nations, as being states in the global context.
• These states lack functioning internal political, social, and economic
institutions, exhibiting a total vacuum of authority of any kind.
Collapsed State
• Collapsed states are essentially characterised by a lack of
government in any form and by the complete destruction of
the governmental institutional system.
• In a collapsed state there is no monopoly on violence – thus
warlords, guerrillas, and other paramilitary groups become a
substitute for the state’s armed forces.
• The world’s most famous and infamous collapsed state is
Somalia.