First, it is relevant to distinguish three stages or three categories which classify states: weak states, failed states and collapsed states. Defined as weak, states fulfil a number of criteria cited above but show poor performances in others. As for failed states, they perform poorly in all the criteria but it has not become necessary to fail in all the delivered public goods to be classified as failed. Indeed, states may be seen as failed states when they fail the most important political good that is a sustainable security and that leads to a high level of violence. One important remark is that the violence alone does not lead to failure and on the other hand, the absence of violence does not mean that states are not failed(15). States defined as collapsed are an extreme version of failure in which the rule of strong prevails and private sectors provide the political goods in place of the legitimate government(16). Somalia exemplifies the phenomenon of collapsed state in the eighties after having failed. Bosnia and Afghanistan also collapsed two decades ago. Nigeria and Sierra Leone knew the same phenomenon in the nineties. Here, we will focus on the definition of state failure, its indicators and the different causes that can lead to failure, especially from the analysis of Robert I. Rotberg, the Fund for Peace with the CAST (the Conflict Assessment System Tool) and the theory of failure of David Carment.
Strong states are able to protect their borders and to provide a domestic security, and also to provide the different political goods that ensure a well-structured society in which the rule of law prevails(17). According to the different Index described by Edward Newman, namely the indicators like GDP per capita, the UNDP Human Development Index, the Human development Index (HDI) and the Global Peace Index, strong states fulfil and perform well the different criteria of each Index. While the UNDP Human Development Index and the HDI focus on the basic dimensions of human development that are the human welfare, the public service delivery and the standard of living, the Global Peace Index provides several indicators in the fields of societal safety and security, militarization and internal conflict(18).
On the other hand, through the Rotberg’s analysis, failed states deals with corruption, violence and armed conflicts between the government and some rivals. Failed states are characterized by conflicts between communities and the government is not able anymore to protect and control the borders. The government sees that its authority collapses and it becomes difficult to ensure the security of the inhabitants that cease trusting. In other words, the social contract is broken. Fear begins to spread because of the threats of rebels that begin to take control of some geographical parts of the country, as in Sierra Leone. Those rebels, consisted of ethnic groups, do not hesitate to oppress their own compatriots. Rotberg says: “As in Mobutu Sese Seko’s Zaire or the Taliban’s Afghanistan, ruling cadres increasingly oppress, extort, and harass the majority of their own compatriots(19)”. Other indicators as the failure of bureaucracy and the increasingly criminal violence lead to state failure. Indeed, drug trafficking and arms become the norms and police forces have no more means to protect the inhabitants(20). So the citizens prefer to find a security across the warlords. Failed states are also characterized by a poor infrastructure and destroyed by the conflicts. With regard to communication, the network fails. Further, systems of education and medical care are not anymore provided by the public sphere but it becomes privatized. The government is not able anymore to provide a high quality of well-being to all the citizens. The economic situation deteriorates: the national and per capital levels of annual GDP decline(21). Moreover inflation increases and the national currency is replaced by other international currencies. This situation often leads to food shortages.
15 Robert I. Rotberg, The New Nature of Nation-State Failure,Washington Quarterly, XXV, 2002.
16 Robert I. Rotberg, The New Nature of Nation-State Failure,Washington Quarterly, XXV, 2002.
17 Robert I. Rotberg, State failure and state weakness in a time of terror, Brookings Institution Press, 2003, 354 pages
18 Edward Newman, Failed States and International Order: Constructing a Post-Westphalian World, Contemporary Security Policy, Vol.30, No.3 (December 2009), pp.421–443
19 Robert I. Rotberg, The New Nature of Nation-State Failure,Washington Quarterly, XXV, 2002.
20 Robert I. Rotberg, The New Nature of Nation-State Failure,Washington Quarterly, XXV, 2002.
21 Robert I. Rotberg, State failure and state weakness in a time of terror, Brookings Institution Press, 2003, 354 pages