Many could argue that most states in 2014 are failed, primarily because of what the 2012 Fragile State Index states. For a state to be failed is saying they lack economic development and political control, possess high morality and crime rates, and are amongst a civil war. Amongst the many states claimed failed, Syria possesses most of these qualities. Since 2012, there has been protests and military disputes between the Syrian military, people and ISIS rebels. The dictator, Bashar Al-Assad, has refused to step down and has helped defined this state as failed.
A failed state is considered weak, fragile and unstable. Here, Syria is all of the above. Even though they currently have a leader, Assad, he is not legitimate. As stated in Professor Shirk's "Legitimacy" slide, political legitimacy is where "citizens view leaders as normatively legitimate,"Assad does not have this from the people of Syria nor the people outside of Syria. Yes, he does have military power still and has not stepped down, but he has failed his people and his state, thus causing my argument of Syria as failed. If there were a strong government in place and military at hand, Syria would not be struggling in their economy, with mortality/crime rates, and with their lack of civil rights thus causing a civil war.
Because of this lack of political control, such countries as the United States have stepped in to aid in the civil war amongst Syria. Thus further proving Syria to be unstable and too weak to control their own countries civil war and the rebels inside. The U.S. has now started airstrikes in Syria to stop ISIS gain control of Syria's civil rights for them. A state that needs another state to intervene and gain back their civil rights and overall stability, to me, is deemed failed.
Although many argue that Syria is not considered one of the top failed states, as seen on the Fragile State Index, any state that happens to be failing at one of the criteria is failed. Of the criteria for a failed state, there is not one that isn't important in the success of a state, therefore I believe if a state is failing in one department, they are failing in general. As stated in the Fragile State Index, Syria scored high in things such as state legitimacy, human rights and security apparatus. But let's take a step back and look at when this index was created, 2012. It has been two years and a lot has happened causing Syria to be considered even more of a failed state today. I believe due to lack of control of people and no military tactics, legitimacy, as stated before, is no longer relevant for Syria. They lost that when Assad refused to step down. In regards to human rights, this is something that definitely has been diminished from this civil war causing nothing to be gained so far from it.
All in all, I deem Syria as a failed state. Whether it has been failed by their government or just failed in general, it is still failed. When a state needs intervention from outside states to control inside of their own, I believe this is the ultimate factor of loss of legitimacy, political control and lack of civil rights that have caused Syria to be failed.
I definitely agree that Syria is an example of a failed state. The legitimacy of Assad, is I think an important factor to consider when examining the government of Syria. As this supports and gives legitimacy to prodemocracy protesters and fights in the country, it also works to degrade the political effectiveness of a nation as it cannot independently produce a leader that acts in the citizens best interest. However, although it is obvious that each nation on earth has less than perfect scores on the failed state index, that does not automatically qualify them as a failed state. Following the logic in the post, the United States, Canada, and other western democracy would be considered failed. Although stagnate economic conditions have hurt the scores of these nations, the decline in Economic performance has been seen across the world. In the future when states are analyzed in their level of failure, global economic and political conditions the fault of no particular nation in general should be used to mitigate these failure numbers when determining the failed state index score.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the claim that Syria is a failed state. We can extrapolate, based on the scores Syria received in the Fragile State Index, that Syria is in a state of Civil War. High scores in some criteria and low scores on the other, in my opinion, lead us to conclude that Syria is a state in civil war as opposed to a completely failed one.
ReplyDeleteI also disagree with your claim that any state without a perfect score is failed. States aren't perfect, and there is almost no way to possibly maximize scores in each of those criteria. The U.S. may have its problems, but realistically I don't think it is a failed state.
I agree that Syria is currently a failing state. However to call it a complete failure is unfair. Calling Syria a failing state would be a more accurate depiction. I agree that Assad's reign is illegitimate due to the fact that he is a dictator who cannot control his own state, and also because due to heavy opposition his days are numbered. I believe that the U.S. is slowly trying to push Assad out the door but has to deal with ISIS first in order to do that. Syria is very rich in natural resources but they are faced with misuse of these resources. With proper guidance Syria can turn it's status from a failing state to somewhat of a success.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the fact that Syria is a failed state. Syria scores on certain parts of the Fragile State Index shows that Syria is failing as a state. Since the Civil War started more than 100,000 people have died and that is something used to determine a failed state. Also, Assad’s dictatorship in Syria is not legitimate and that then leads to little to no political control in the state. One part that I don’t agree with is that if a state is failing in one criteria it makes that state a failed state. There is no one perfect country in the world and states are going to be high in certain parts of the fragile state index.
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