Book Review (Part One)
Fixing Failed
States (Let’s see how he
fixes a failed state like Afghanistan)[1]
A Framework for
Rebuilding a Fractured World
In the dawn of 2015, I finished reading a prominent book
under FIXING FAILED STATES penned by Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart; the first
one, current president of Afghanistan and the then employee of the World Bank
and lecturer at John Hopkins University, Kabul University and Finance Minister
of the country in the year following 9/11. The Latter, an employee of World
Bank and the Director of Institute for State Effectiveness, one of the writers
of Bonn Agreement and one of the developers of National Solidarity Programs in
Afghanistan. Both of them have rich background in international scene
practically and theoretically.
This book is not just as its name indicates, but it is both accounts
of successes and failures of states. It illustrates the rising story of some
states which were deemed to failure in the eyes of the others while on contrary,
some states which were taught to be the stars of a given regions descended in
chaos and anarchy due to dysfunctional apparatus called state.
It was not written in a short span of time; though its
publication marks 2008, its seed had been cultivated years ago when coauthors
were on mission to some post conflict countries recovery. As stated in
acknowledgement, “many of the concepts were improved through a program we led
at the World Bank in the late 1990s on institutions and organizations…”[2]
and “between 2001 and 2005 Afghanistan was the site where we developed and
implemented many of the ideas contained in this book”[3]
while “in January 2005, we made our first full presentation of the set of
ideas, convened by the United Nations, World Bank, Department for International
Development (DFID), and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), and we continued to refine them since then.”[4]
I would like to highlight those points which I think worth
sharing and caring, rather discussing how many parts and subheading it has.
THE CREEPING “SOVEREIGNTY GAP”
The most interesting part is the “The Creeping
Sovereignty Gap” which presents the painful
story of state failure and the evil role that the leaders of these poor
countries play. It narrates that in September of each year, one cannot easily
find an accommodation in New York City because the heads of states come over
for the UN General Assembly with a huge entourage to represent a sovereign
state in the assembly. Not only once but several times, the book criticizes these
bombastic rituals which are very heavy economically for a poor country because
staying with such populated escorts impose a great deal of charges on economy
of such poor countries. With that amount of money spent at New York Hotels, a
public facility can be made in their desperate countries. Yet, it is quite ridiculous that Mr. Ghani as president
of a poor country like Afghanistan, himself has taken such big companies with
him to official visits so far; for instance, recently to London Conference. How
can he criticize such behaviors of the others but he himself is escorted by an
army of MPs, generals, ministers and dignitaries which charges extreme amount
of money on the poor economy of the country especially in this time of economic
depression and political uncertainty.
According to this part,
poor countries are deeply indebted to IMF and other banks, yet their leaders
secretly open secret personal bank accounts abroad and deposit what were
supposed to be spent on basic health, education and welfare of their people.
This part gives several examples of corruption and the distance between the
people and the states. The sovereignty gaps are here: the distance between
people and the states. “The people thus rendered powerless are victims of what
we call the sovereignty gap”[5].
The book gives a clear
picture of what sovereignty is. In this regard, it distinguish between a de
jure assumption that all states are “sovereign” regardless of their performance
in practice and the de facto reality that many are malfunctioning or collapsed
state, incapable of providing their citizens with even the most basic services,
where the reciprocal set of rights and obligations are not a reality. In
Washington D.C, and New York, these states may be treated as sovereign, as
autonomous units in the international system of nations, but in reality many
developing and post-Soviet states are sites of bas governance, misrule and
corruption. In the forty to sixty countries that constitute an “arc of crisis”
that extends from Africa through the Middle East and Central and East Asia, the
crucial, mutual relationship between citizens and their governments is missing.
[6]
Consequences of
Sovereignty Gap
There is no room for any
more ignorance as the world has paid a steep price for negligence. For
instances, “A number of contemporary global crises have their roots in forty to
sixty fragile countries. As these states have experienced prolonged conflict or
misrule, networks of criminality, violence and terror have solidified,
providing an ever expanding platform that threatens the entire globe”[7].
Global terrorism, increased violence, human trafficking, intrastate and
interstate conflict, drug rings and the smuggling of arms, antiquities and precious
stones combined with money laundering are obvious consequences of dysfunctional
states and disjunction of failed states and their citizens.
[1]
There is most of the time a gap between theory and practice. Ashraf Ghani of
Theory and Practice may be two distinctive guys. The theory one may be someone
who dreams big and has a great vision for transformation of Afghanistan.
However, the practice one would be someone who demonstrates indifferences to
public will and tries to deepen his root in autocracy.
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