*{Rebuilding Failed States: What Are Our Options? [http://www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/Rebuilding%20Failed%20States%3A%20What%20Are%20Our%20Options%3F?open&topic_id=300350000&theme_id=300]

            04.02.2002

            Annual Meeting 2002}

            What is a failing state? What should the international community do when it finds one? These questions dominated what amounted to a brainstorming session that included input from panellists and participants with a broad range of viewpoints.

            Moderator Nik Gowing, Main Presenter, BBC World TV, United Kingdom, kicked off the session by challenging the panel and participants to define a "failed" or "failing" state. The debate mostly revolved around the issue of whether "ugly" states, those for example that abuse human rights, should be classified as "failed" or whether a more narrow definition should be applied.

            While no consensus emerged, the most precise and comprehensive definition was offered by Andrew S. Natsios, Administrator, US Agency for International Development, USA. In his view, a failed state must simultaneously fulfil each of five criteria: 1. massive population displacement either within or across borders; 2. massive food insecurity; 3. massive malnutrition and epidemics; 4. a macroeconomic crisis that might include hyperinflation, a currency collapse and high unemployment; and 5. government services that have ceased to function.

            Challenger Lawrence Freedman, Head, School of Social Science and Public Policy, King’s College, University of London, United Kingdom, put it this way: "You know one when you see one."

            The discussion over definitions evolved into a debate about when the international community has the right or even the obligation to intervene. Richard Haass, Director, Policy Planning, US Department of State, USA, put these cases into two different categories: 1. when the state through acts of commission or omission is unable to ensure the security of its own people; and 2. when through acts of commission or omission a state threatens the sovereignty of other countries. Intervention in the first case is generally justified on humanitarian grounds, and in the second on strategic grounds, most panellists agreed.

            Today, however, the humanitarian and strategic motivations sometimes converge. "What we used to see as humanitarian is now strategic," said Haass. "Al-Qaida type groups are going to gravitate to states that support them or that can’t deny them [room to operate]."

            Haass noted that there is no international consensus on who should decide when and how to act. "We have no mechanism," he said. "If you leave it to the Security Council, you won’t get consensus. Usually you’ll get a recipe for inaction." For that reason, NATO (as in the case of Kosovo) or an ad hoc coalition might play a leading role, he said.

            While most of the discussion focused narrowly on military intervention, Ian A. Goldin, Director, Development Policy, World Bank, Washington DC, and Global Leader for Tomorrow 1998, argued that such an approach reflected narrow thinking. He argued that embargoes can be used to combat diamond smuggling and illegal arms trafficking that contribute to instability.

            Ruud F. M. Lubbers, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva, focused many of his comments on the nation-building process. Among other things, he stressed the need to "break the culture of impunity" and for integrating former refugees into any reconstruction process. Added Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations, New York: These societies must be demilitarized and former combatants provided "a way to make a living without a gun."

            The failures aren’t only those of the states in question, noted José Ramos-Horta, Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of East Timor. "There also has to be an evaluation of the actions of international and regional institutions," he said.                   

                  *{Contributors:       Freedman Lawrence
                  Goldin Ian A.
                  Gowing Nik
                  Guéhenno Jean-Marie
                  Haass Richard
                  Lubbers Ruud F. M.
                  Natsios Andrew S.
                  Ramos-Horta José}