Failed States

 Drew Augustine

Throughout history there have been many failed states that have been all over the world but there have been many in the Middle East and Africa. The reason for the downfall of failed states can differ but many of them revolve around the same concept. Oftentimes these states are very poor which makes it difficult to lead them, “Perhaps poverty leads to bad government because those with power want to grab for themselves whatever material goodies are available, or because poverty leads to low levels of education and thus a lack of understanding of the value of democratic and constitutional processes.” (Moore). Another reason a state may fail is because of so many rich countries throughout the world. That causes the leaders of countries that possess natural resources to loot their country and sell the resources for profit. With that money they can then buy weapons to defend themselves. Afghanistan is a failed state because of all these reasons as well as no government having the power to remain stable in charge. 

The Afghanistan government began to collapse in 1978 and since then there has not been a single group that has been able to maintain stability in power. Warlords were in control of the country which made it extremely unstable. Eventually, warlords became terrorists groups that were in control, “To hold the movement together, the Taliban fashioned a de jure super commander to whom obedience was owed as a religious duty, i.e., the Emirate. This controlled the group’s various military commanders, who wielded unconstrained de facto power.” (Rahimi). Both warlords and terrorist groups wanted to turn the people away from the actual government that was supposed to be in charge. They made people believe the government was corrupt which led people to be against the government and not trust them. This led to the country being unstable and nobody in clear control. These warlords and terrorist groups were able to get their hands on large amounts of weapons all fighting for control. 

Overall, states fail for many different reasons. It can range anywhere from economic issues, to many rich countries throughout the world, having an unstable government, and selling natural resources leading to corrupt leaders looting their countries. Failed states can occur anywhere but they often occur in the global south and east. In the case of Afghanistan, they had an unsuccessful central government. This government eventually collapsed leading to warlords taking control of the country. Terrorist groups got involved which created lots of chaos. Failed states like Afghanistan are left with nothing to do and not many ways to fix them.  


Works Cited

Moore, Mick. “Rich World, Poor World.” Boston Review, 3 July 2012,

https://bostonreview.net/articles/mick-moore-rich-world-poor-world/. 

Rahimi, Haroun. “Lessons from Afghanistan's History: How Not to Fix a Failed State.” – The Diplomat, For The Diplomat, 11 Oct. 2021, https://thediplomat.com/2021/10/lessons-from-afghanistans-history-how-not-to-fix-a-failed-state/.

Comments

  1. BlakeMarch 28, 2022 at 3:08 PM

    I like how you start off by stating how a state might become or is considered a failed state. This helps lead you into your argument of why Afghanistan is a failed state. It is interesting how Afghanistan can not keep a stable government because of the Warlord's power. Overall good post and a stable argument that was led up well with the context.

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