Saeed, Raza (2023) Failing the states : the fragility of the state-failure paradigm. In: Mica, Adriana and Pawlak, Mikołaj and Horolets, Anna and Kubicki, Paweł , (eds.) Routledge International Handbook of Failure. Routledge. ISBN 9780367404048

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Abstract

Is it actually possible to label socio-political structures as failures or near-failures and pitch them against the so-called successful ones? Can failure be quantified and calculated against a set of specific and measurable indicators? And what happens when these classificatory regimes fail in achieving what they set out to do and instead create a normative environment that is counter-productive? Nowhere is the complexity and the significance of these questions more apparent than in the context of state failure. In the last three decades, the concepts of state failure and fragility have gained importance, despite the absence of a consensus on what qualifies as a successful or a failed state. But there are fundamental problems that affect this discourse, beyond definitional ambiguities. This chapter discusses that the state failure and fragility discourse is a normative one which takes the supposedly stable states as the norm and then focuses on the outliers to bring them in line with the expectations of international community. The indicators and rankings are a more concretised manifestation of this, and act as governance instruments to identify failed and fragile states and shape their behaviour. However, the creation of the failure-fragility discourse and the norm is itself based on an anomalous understanding of state failure. The acontextuality that is built into the state failure-fragility discourse means that the prognosis and the predictions that the paradigm offers are unable to recognise the problems that gave rise to this phenomenon in the first place.

Item Type:	Book Item
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JC Political theory J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration J Political Science > JX International law J Political Science > JZ International relations K Law [LC] > K Law (General) K Law [LC] > KZ Law of Nations
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Failed states, Political stability, International relations, Colonialism
Publisher:	Routledge
ISBN:	9780367404048
Book Title:	Routledge International Handbook of Failure
Editor:	Mica, Adriana and Pawlak, Mikołaj and Horolets, Anna and Kubicki, Paweł
Official Date:	30 January 2023
Dates:	Date Event 30 January 2023 Published 18 February 2022 Accepted
DOI:	10.4324/9780429355950-31
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights):	This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Routledge International Handbook of Failure on 30/01/2023, available online: http://www.routledge.com/Routledge-International-Handbook-of-Failure/Mica-Pawlak-Horolets-Kubicki/p/book/9780367404048#
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit:	14 February 2023
Related URLs:	Publisher

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