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September 11 forced the re-emergence of a topic on the international
agenda which had been there since the early 1990s: the problem of
failing and failed states. The perpetrators of this terrorist act were
part of a transnational terrorist network which had its temporary base
in Afghanistan - one of those forgotten failed states. Consequently,
the U.S. National Security Strategy (September 2002) stated on its very
first page. "America is now threatened less by conquering states than
we are by failing ones." Jack Straw, the British Secretary of State for
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pointed out: "State failure can no
longer be seen as a localized or regional issue to be managed simply on
an ad hoc, case by case basis. We have to develop a more coherent and
effective international response which utilizes all of the tools at our
disposal, ranging aid and humanitarian assistance to support for
institution building."
Almost all of Jack Straw's European colleagues would certainly
subscribe to his assessment that the dealing with failing and failed
states would require a very comprehensive and long-term approach with a
strong emphasis on the employment of non-military means. The position
of the present U.S. administration seems to differ significantly from
this prioritization. Before September 11 the Bush administration
stressed that it would not consider nation-building as a relevant task
for its foreign policy or development assistance. This has changed in
the meantime but the strategy to intervene in failing and failed states
seems to be limited to short-term stabilization efforts with a strong
preference for military means (e.g. employment of troops and training
in counter-terrorism, provision of military aid and supply to foreign
governments). For example, the U.S. National Security Strategy does not
commit the administration to state-building, nor does the recently
increased budget for development assistance provide for any additional
means in this field.
It is not so much the analysis on the causes and international impacts
of state failure where we can observe diverging views across the
Atlantic, but the conclusions and policy implications of how to deal
with the problem.
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