Weak States in the International System

Weak States in the International System PDF Author: Michael I. Handel
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780714640730
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
This work defines weak states and their strengths and weaknesses. It examines why they are weak and their position in different international systems as well as their economic positions.

Weak States in the International System

Weak States in the International System PDF Author: Michael I. Handel
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780714640730
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Get Book Here

Book Description
This work defines weak states and their strengths and weaknesses. It examines why they are weak and their position in different international systems as well as their economic positions.

Weak States in International Relations Theory

Weak States in International Relations Theory PDF Author: Hanna Samir Kassab
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9781137543882
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book seeks to explain why weak states exist within the international system. Using the cases of Armenia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Lebanon, and Cambodia, the author argues that, if a state is weak and vulnerable, then it can practice an unexpected degree of relative autonomy unfettered by great powers.

The Myth of International Order

The Myth of International Order PDF Author: Arjun Chowdhury
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190686715
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
In February of 2011, Libyan citizens rebelled against Muammar Qaddafi and quickly unseated him. The speed of the regime's collapse confounded many observers, and the ensuing civil war showed Foreign Policy's index of failed states to be deeply flawed--FP had, in 2010, identified 110 states as being more likely than Libya to descend into chaos. They were spectacularly wrong, but this points to a larger error in conventional foreign policy wisdom: failed, or weak and unstable, states are not anomalies but are instead in the majority. More states resemble Libya than Sweden. Why are most states weak and unstable? Taking as his launching point Charles Tilly's famous dictum that 'war made the state, and the state made war, ' Arjun Chowdhury argues that the problem lies in our mistaken equation of democracy and economic power with stability. But major wars are the true source of stability: only the existential crisis that such wars produced could lead citizens to willingly sacrifice the resources that allowed the state to build the capacity it needed for survival. Developing states in the postcolonial era never experienced the demands major interstate war placed on European states, and hence citizens in those nations have been unwilling to sacrifice the resources that would build state capacity. For example, India and Mexico are established democracies with large economies. Despite their indices of stability, both countries are far from stable: there is an active Maoist insurgency in almost a quarter of India's districts, and Mexico is plagued by violence, drug trafficking, and high levels of corruption in local government. Nor are either effective at collecting revenue. As a consequence, they do not have the tax base necessary to perform the most fundamental tasks of modern states: controlling organized violence in a given territory and providing basic services to citizens. By this standard, the majority of states in the world--about two thirds--are weak states. Chowdury maintains that an accurate evaluation of international security requires a normative shift: the language of weakness and failure belies the fact that strong states are exceptions. Chowdhury believes that dismantling this norm is crucial, as it encourages developing states to pursue state-building via war, which is an extremely costly approach--in terms of human lives and capital. Moreover, in our era, such an approach is destined to fail because the total wars of the past are highly unlikely to occur today. Just as importantly, the non-state alternatives on offer are not viable alternatives. For better or worse, we will continue to live in a state-dominated world where most states are weak. Counterintuitive and sweeping in its coverage, The Myth of International Order demands that we fundamentally rethink foundational concepts of international politics like political stability and state failure.

Small States in International Relations

Small States in International Relations PDF Author: Christine Ingebritsen
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295802103
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Smaller nations have a special place in the international system, with a striking capacity to defy the expectations of most observers and many prominent theories of international relations. This volume of classic essays highlights the ability of small states to counter power with superior commitment, to rely on tightly knit domestic institutions with a shared "ideology of social partnership," and to set agendas as "norm entrepreneurs." The volume is organized around themes such as how and why small states defy expectations of realist approaches to the study of power; the agenda-setting capacity of smaller powers in international society and in regional governance structures such as the European Union; and how small states and representatives from these societies play the role of norm entrepreneurs in world politics -- from the promotion of sustainable solutions to innovative humanitarian programs and policies..

Prioritization Theory and Defensive Foreign Policy

Prioritization Theory and Defensive Foreign Policy PDF Author: Hanna Samir Kassab
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319480189
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
This book studies systemic vulnerabilities and their impact on states and individual survival. The author theorizes that the structure of the international system is a product of the distribution of capabilities and vulnerabilities across states. States function or behave in terms of these systemic threats. The author examines a number of specific case-studies focusing on military, economic, environmental, political and cyber vulnerabilities, and how different states are impacted by them. Arguing that current attempts to securitize these vulnerabilities through defensive foreign policies are largely failing, the books makes the case for prioritizing economic development and human security.

Weak Links

Weak Links PDF Author: Stewart Patrick
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019975151X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Conventional wisdom among policymakers in both the US and Europe holds that weak and failing states are the source of the world's most pressing security threats today. However, as this book shows, our assumptions about the threats posed by failed and failing states are based on false premises.

Grand Strategies of Weak States and Great Powers

Grand Strategies of Weak States and Great Powers PDF Author: Hanna Samir Kassab
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319704044
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Grand strategies can be thought of as overall survival strategies of all states. Great powers seek survival against other great powers seeking to undermine their power and position, determining prestige-seeking behavior as psychotic and destructive. Weak states suffer from systemic vulnerabilities and trade whatever political power they have to a great power for economic assistance. If enough weak states support a particular great power, then that great power will become more powerful relative to competitors. This forms an international system fashioned by these transactions.

State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of Terror

State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of Terror PDF Author: Robert I. Rotberg
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780815775720
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
The threat of terror, which flares in Africa and Indonesia, has given the problem of failed states an unprecedented immediacy and importance. In the past, failure had a primarily humanitarian dimension, with fewer implications for peace and security. Now nation-states that fail, or may do so, pose dangers to themselves, to their neighbors, and to people around the globe: preventing their failure, and reviving those that do fail, has become a strategic as well as a moral imperative. State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of Terror develops an innovative theory of state failure that classifies and categorizes states along a continuum from weak to failed to collapsed. By understanding the mechanisms and identifying the tell-tale indicators of state failure, it is possible to develop strategies to arrest the fatal slide from weakness to collapse. This state failure paradigm is illustrated through detailed case studies of states that have failed and collapsed (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, the Sudan, Somalia), states that are dangerously weak (Colombia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan), and states that are weak but safe (Fiji, Haiti, Lebanon).

Strong NGOs and Weak States

Strong NGOs and Weak States PDF Author: Milli Lake
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108419372
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
Offers evidence that opportunity structures created by state weakness can allow NGOs to exert unparalleled influence over local human rights law and practice.

Neverending Wars

Neverending Wars PDF Author: Ann Hironaka
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674038660
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Since 1945, the average length of civil wars has increased three-fold. What explains this startling fact? Hironaka points to the crucial role of the international community in propping up new and weak states that resulted from the postwar decolonization movement. These states are prone to conflicts and lack the resources to resolve them decisively.