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Title
The Failings of the Failed State Debate - A critical approach to state-builing in Somalia |
Full text
http://rudar.ruc.dk/handle/1800/16784 |
Date
2014 |
Author(s)
Lago, Kipre Serge; Stepputat, Frida; Öblom, Christel; Hansen, Stefan Elver; Lind, Martine Søs |
Contributor(s)
Varming, Kirsten |
Abstract
This project investigates the dominating trends of the failed state debate in the international community. With a critical approach to the concept of state failure, the project sets out to answer 1) what is a state? 2) What is state failure? 3) How are failed states perceived and portrayed in the failed state debate? 4) Are there alternative modes of governance to statehood? The concept of the state is delineated primarily through Weber's understanding of the state and his ideal of legal-rational authority. Further, Thomas Hobbes' take on the social contract is used to describe the relationship between the state and its citizens. The state is further understood in this project as inscribed in the global state system, and that this is an actor of what defines and regulate state failure. Moreover, key functions of the state will also be included to create a cohesive notion of what is understood to be the Western perception of the state. This account of the state will then be used to understand the premises of state failure, and will establish a foundation for critically engage with the failed state debate, especially in relation to three dimensions: authority, services, and legitimacy. To accentuate the premise and conception of the failed state debate, the project will analyse two state failure indexes, the State Fragility Index, by the Centre for Systemic Peace, and the Failed States Index, by the Fund for Peace. These have a function to objectify, measure, and rank a state according to its fragility, and it is thus of interest to understand which state conceptions lie at heart of these rankings, and on what notion as society can be seen as 'failed'. To underline the pitfalls of the failed state debate, the project will look into how Somalia is being understood as a failed state, and in which institutions it is deemed most unredeemable By looking into the history of Somalia, the project will describe how the different attempted reforms of state building have failed. It will be analysed and discussed to what extent the failed state debate, portrayed through the failed state indexes, has been a product of and reaffirming the conception of Somalia as a failed state. It will be questioned if the labels and concept applied to Somalia in this context, representation of the structures within the Somali society on in own terms, or only serves to continually inscribe the community in the dominating trends of the failed state debate. An understanding of the state failure concept will be obtained with Somalia as a case and further questioned as an argument for developmental state building. In correlation to the critical approach towards the concept of state failure, will alternatives to the dominating trend of the failed state debate be examined. |
Subject(s)
Somalia; Failed States; Siad Barre; Failed States Indexes; Failed State Debate; State Failure; State Fragility; Fragile State |
Language
en |
Type of publication
Thesis; IU-studier / International Development Studies - not master thesis |
Repository
Roskilde - Roskilde University Digital Archive (RUDAR)
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Added to C-A: 2014-09-09;15:13:10 |
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