Introduction: Failing States as the Responsibility of the Global Community
Despite the massive economic progress that has been witnessed in the global community over the past few decades because of the new opportunities created by technological innovations and breakthrough ideas, a range of countries remains at the brink of economic and financial collapse due to the non-sustainability of their economy.1 Termed as failing by the UN, the identified countries have been viewed as the focus of the global community’s efforts and the responsibility thereof. When considering the reasons for the identified vision to exist, one must mention the necessity to promote well-being at a larger scale, as well as the needs to fight violence and anarchy in the global community. Since the instances of violence, increasingly high poverty rates, lack of social justice, and other negative phenomena that thrive in failing states are likely to grow and affect the rest of the global community unless handled respectively, the latter views it as its responsibility to support the so-called failing states by offering them extensive opportunities for enhanced economic growth and the active use of the available opportunities for enhancing their economic, political, and social processes.
Reasons for Assisting Failing States: Promoting Global Well-Being
A closer look at the situation that can be currently observed in the realm of the global community will show that there is a consistent need for maintaining the specified environment safe. Unless stifled at the earliest stages of their development, violence, crime, and the relevant phenomena that are traditionally deemed as the markers of poor socioeconomic development within a state are bound to take effect on the well-being of not only their citizens but also the residents of other states. Therefore, containing and eliminating the identified issues from the realm of the global society can be considered as one of the reasons for the states that are currently at the top of the world economy to support and encourage the development of failing states.2 Thus, the increasingly high rates of violence and anarchy in the identified areas can be contained successfully.
Promoting Self-Determination as the Key to Success: Failing States and Their Progress
Self-determination should be recognized as the tool for preventing the development of violence and anarchy in the environment of failing states. By definition, the phenomenon of self-determination implies the development of independence in all domains. The identified goal can be attained by promoting the significance of political agency among the target population, as well as encouraging them to acquire a voice in the context of their society. The resulting realization of the target population’s political ambitions and the creation of opportunities for determining their national and cultural identity are bound to lead to a massive rise in the levels of activity and agency among the target population. Thus, ethical standards, values, and norms based on which the principles of social interaction will be crystallized will serve as the tool for managing the issues of crime, poverty, social injustice, and the numerous issues faced by national and ethnic minorities in the modern global society.
Long-Term Survivability: Creating the Environment in Which People Can Live
Furthermore, when considering the reasons for economically sustainable states to support the failing ones, one must mention the necessity to create decent living conditions for any member of the global community. Seeing that the failing states cannot offer their citizens the environment in which their needs can be satisfied fully, the states that are currently at the top of the financial and economic hierarchy view it as their ethical obligation and moral responsibility to lend a helping hand to the people that require immediate assistance. Reducing poverty rates and providing people with a chance to live in a decent environment is one of the primary goals on the global agenda. Similarly to the reason mentioned above, the specified rationale also boils down to reducing the levels of violence and anarchy in the said states.3
The specified step in assisting the states that are currently deemed as failing is defined by the need to reduce the threat of violence and crime that is likely to grow in the identified environment. Indeed, without any opportunities for developing economic sustainability, the vulnerable population is likely to succumb to using crime as the tool for obtaining the necessary resources, whereas violence, including both physical and psychological abuse, is bound to serve as the vent for their negative emotions, such as despair and the feeling of being ostracized. While the identified phenomenon is likely to be restricted to the areas of the vulnerable population’s residence at first, crime will spread further as soon as the specified areas are exhausted and emptied.
Thus, there is a need for the states that are currently deemed as prosperous to support failing countries. Assistance must be provided so that violence and crime could not prevented and managed successfully. As a result, the foundation rot eh global well-being and collaboration will be built.
Decolonization as the Process of Relieving States from Social, Cultural, and Economic Pressure
When considering the approaches that will allow for a successful collaboration between the failing states and the ones that will provide them with the required support and encouragement, one should consider decolonization as the first step toward promoting the consistent growth. Indeed, a closer look at some of the issues that developing countries have been facing over the past few decades will reveal that the pressure of colonization has been affecting the economic, social, and cultural processes in the identified environments, thus, leading to their gradual deterioration.4
It should be noted, though, that the process of decolonization should be carried out with due care so that the target countries could be provided with the support that they need to retain economic sustainability and political agency in the context of the global environment. For instance, the notorious failure of decolonization and the further enhancement of economic growth in African states must be recognized as an important lesson based on which current strategies must be based. Particularly, apart from decolonization, the failing states must be given a chance to reinvent their political system toward a transparent and honest system based on the principles of democracy. Furthermore, the importance of appropriate resource management must be stressed as an essential constituent of the successful promotion of economic, political, financial, and social well-being in the target states.
Conclusion: Assisting the Falling States to Build the Foundation for the Future Success
Failing states have been facing significant cultural, economic, social, and political issues, which need to be handled with the help of the global community. By providing support to the target countries, the members of the global economic environment will be able to not only assist vulnerable populations but also prevent a global crisis that may occur once the rates of crime and violence observed in failing states spin out of control. Therefore, the active promotion of sustainability, self-determination, and long-term survivability must be deemed as a necessity.
Bibliography
- Sarah Heitz, Anti-Corruption Measures in Fragile States. Adressing Change through a United Nations Anti-Corruption Package of Measures (New York: GRIN Verlag, 2015), p. 11
- Tom Bamforth, Deep Field: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Aid Relief, from Pakistan to Kazan, the Punjab to the Pacific (London, UK: Hardie Grant Books, 2014), p. 27
- Michael L. Bernard & Asmeret B. Bier, “Analytical Capability to Better Understand and Anticipate Extremist Shifts Within Populations in Failing States,” Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics AHFE, 2014, p. 3.
- Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, Failing State or Fragmented Hegemony: The Political Economy of Change in Pakistan, PDF, York Centre for Asian Research, 2016.