Towards a taxonomy of failed states in the New World Order: Decaying Somalia, Liberia, Rwanda and Haiti

Third World Quarterly

Volumn 17, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 455-472

  Gros, Jean Germain ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI ST LOUIS   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BRETTON WOODS INSTITUTIONS; COMPARATIVE STUDY; GEOPOLITICAL RELATIONS; HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION; INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON; NEW WORLD ORDER; STATE FAILURE; STATE WEAKNESS;

HAITI; LIBERIA; RWANDA; SOMALIA;

EID: 0030430322     PISSN: 01436597     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01436599615452     Document Type: Article

References (20)

1. Gerald Helman & Steven Ratner, 'Saving failed states,' Foreign Policy, 89, pp 3-20.
2. Ali Mazrui, 'Blood of experience: the failed state and political collapse in Africa', World Policy Journal, IX(1), pp 28-34.
3. William Zartman, I (ed.), Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Autority, Boulder, CO: Lynn Rienner Publishers, 1995.
4. The fact that the state has provided these services in much of the developing world - or for that matter, much of the industrialised world - does not mean that they absolutely cannot be provided by private firms. The externalities normally associated with 'public goods' can be internalised under certain circumstances, thereby making their private delivery possible. In fact, there is an emerging literature on the privatisation of public services in the developing world, and a rising interest by donors in the topic. See Gabriel Roth, The Private Provision of Public Services in Developing Countries, Oxford; Oxford University Press, 1987. See also Arturo Israel, Institutional Development, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.
5. The fact that the state has provided these services in much of the developing world - or for that matter, much of the industrialised world - does not mean that they absolutely cannot be provided by private firms. The externalities normally associated with 'public goods' can be internalised under certain circumstances, thereby making their private delivery possible. In fact, there is an emerging literature on the privatisation of public services in the developing world, and a rising interest by donors in the topic. See Gabriel Roth, The Private Provision of Public Services in Developing Countries, Oxford; Oxford University Press, 1987. See also Arturo Israel, Institutional Development, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989.
6. ECOWAS is composed of Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Benin and Burkina Faso.
7. For an excellent discussion of the weaknesses of the Haitian state, see Jean Ruffat, 'Reconstruire L'etat en Haiti', Revue Politique et Management Public, 9(1), pp 100-120.
8. René Lemarchand, 'Managing transition anarchies: Rwanda, Burundi, South Africa', Journal of Modern African Studies, 32(4), pp 581-605.
9. I am somewhat uncomfortable with the label 'aborted' to describe both Bosnia and Georgia, for 'aborted' connotes finality. Given recent international efforts, it is possible that there will be an internationally recognised entity called Bosnia, although how real it will be and how long it will last even the key actors - eg Tudjman of Croatia, are not sure. As for former Soviet Georgia, it still has serious troubles, including continued interference from Russia, but its survival as a nation-state seems less uncertain now than it did three years ago. Georgia's difficult transition to modern statehood is examined by Ghia Nodia in 'Georgia's identity crisis', Journal of Democracy, 6(1), 1995, pp 104-116.
10. Among the most noted works on why nation-states and empires rise and fall are Mancur Olson's The Rise and Decline of Nations and Douglas North's Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, for which the latter received the 1993 Nobel Prize in economics. Mancur Olson, The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Inflation, and Social Rigidities, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982. Douglas North, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
11. Among the most noted works on why nation-states and empires rise and fall are Mancur Olson's The Rise and Decline of Nations and Douglas North's Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, for which the latter received the 1993 Nobel Prize in economics. Mancur Olson, The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Inflation, and Social Rigidities, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982. Douglas North, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
12. Bart Simpson is a popular cartoon character in the USA from a television show called The Simpsons. For the reader who may not be familiar with The Simpsons, Bart is the opposite of another US popular culture fictional character, Forrest Gump, who, in the movie of the same name, constantly overachieves.
13. World Bank, World Development Report 1990, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.
14. For a general discussion of the problems of pastoral management in the Third World, especially in the Horn of Africa, see Stephen Sandford The Management of Pastoral Development in the Third World, Chichester: John Wiley, 1983.
15. David Nicholls, From Dessalines to Duvalier: Race, Color and National Independence In Haiti, London: Macmillan, 1988.
16. Michel Laguerre, The Military and Society in Haiti, Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1993.
17. Earl Conteh-Morgan, American Foreign Aid and Global Power Projection, Dartmouth: Dartmouth Publishing Company, 1990.
18. Jeffrey Goldberg 'A war without purpose in a country without identity', New York Times Magazine, 22 January 1995, pp 36-39.
19. World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth Washington, DC: World Bank, 1992.
20. For a typical exposé of this view expressed by an insider, see Jonathan Howe, 'The United States and the United Nations in Somalia', Washington Quarterly, 18(3), 1995, pp. 49-62.