failed state

Today, the "fragile state" is a common term, and the more it is used and referred to a wider range of phenomena, the more its meaning is depleted and its explanatory power decreases. Referring a word to a plurality of meanings and expanding its circle of examples, instead of a precise diagnostic tool, it is politically flexible and sometimes misused. It is observed that Western powers intervene under the pretext of threatening their security and the international community from countries with fragile governments. This article tries to answer the question, "What is a fragile state and what are its characteristics?" By examining the semantic network of the fragile state through the descriptive-analytical method, it will analyze the meaning of this concept from the point of view of supporters and opponents in order to assess the possibility of using it as a diagnostic tool. The aim of the research is to provide a clearer picture of a relatively new concept. It seems that despite the applicability and explanatory capability of the fragile state concept, fundamental criticisms towards this concept can be considered valid from an epistemological and methodological point of view. In using this concept, its ideological orientations should be stated.

After September 11, 2001 and the establishment of the republican system in Afghanistan, one of the most obvious features of the state’s foreign policy was its security aspect. Therefore, Afghanistan signed long-term strategic cooperation documents with US, India and about twenty western countries. The creation of the Supreme Peace Council, the establishment of the Kabul Process, the agreement with the establishment of the political office of the Taliban in Doha, the release of five thousand Taliban prisoners, the visit of Afghan heads of government to regional powers and their participation in regional organizations to create regional consensus are all signs of securitization of Afghanistan's foreign policy. This situation has sometimes led to securitization, sometimes to non-securitization and sometimes cross processes of securitization and de-securitization.Considering that the securitization of Afghanistan's foreign policy has led to significant material and diplomatic benefits to Kabul during the period under review, the factors of this matter deserve more attention. It seems that one of the things that played a role in this field was the failure of the Afghan government during 2001-2021. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between the failure of the Afghan government and the securitization of its foreign policy.

Research question:

 The main question in this article is what role did the failure of the government in the years 2001 to 2021 play in the securitization of Afghanistan's foreign policy? The importance of this issue is because, on the one hand, it helps to understand one of the factors of the collapse of the republican system in Afghanistan and on the other hand, it depicts the prospects of the current conditions of this country. Research hypothesis: The hypothesis of the article is that insecurity, political instability and economic inefficiency have caused securitization of Afghanistan's foreign policy during 2001 to 2021. In this way, the Afghan government appeared as a failed state due to its lack of efficiency and legitimacy and this contributed to the securitization of its foreign policy.Methodology and theoretical framework: In this article, a qualitative method is applied and an attempt is made to discover the causal relationship between independent (state failure) and dependent (foreign policy securitization) variables. Also, to confirm the above hypothesis, Robert Jackson's "quasi-state" concept and the theory of securitization in the Copenhagen School are combined and presented as a theoretical framework. According to Jackson, a quasi-state is a state that is unable to establish security, enforce human rights and create social privileges and economic comfort. Therefore, these states are subject to internal instability and legitimacy crisis. Although quasi-states have the same external rights and responsibilities like other independent states, they are far from a sovereign state due to the lack of institutional features of a state. According to Jackson, quasi-states are a type of minimal agency that cannot provide basic needs such as law, order, security, and welfare, and mainly become a source of wealth and power for a small group of elites. Therefore, indicators such as the lack of control over the territory, the lack of monopoly in the use of legitimate force, the lack of authority to make collective decisions, the inability to provide public services and the inability to fulfill international obligations can be considered for failed states. Since quasi-states lack “empirical sovereignty” and do not have much power to implement their responsibilities, in their framework, the national, international and humanitarian responsibilities of the government are changed or not realized. Therefore, the foreign policy maker in such states is forced to attract international aid to ward off threats and implement international obligations. In other words, the only way to attract international aid is to highlight threats and securitize foreign policy. Securitization is one of the turning points of the Copenhagen School. In the securitization process, the issue is introduced as an existential threat and is pursued beyond official laws. Therefore, any threat that falls within the scope of security issues affects the domestic and foreign policy of a country. In general, the failure of the state, which internally causes the lack of order and rule of law, economic inefficiency and the crisis of political legitimacy weakens the government’s ability to make foreign commitments. In such a situation, where the internal environment is quite favorable for the growth of terrorism and other irresponsible armed groups and interventions by foreign actors and the failed state is unable to deal with it, foreign policy-makers try to adopt strategies such as the securitization of foreign policy to attract international aid, eliminate threats and ensure the survival of the system.

According to the theoretical model presented above, it is possible to look for the signs of the securitization of Afghanistan's foreign policy at three national, regional and international levels and explain how this process is happened. Although at the first glance, it seemed that the chaotic conditions of Afghanistan along with the nature of the international community’s fight against terrorism caused this situation, but by focusing on the foreign policy of Afghanistan in the period under review, it is clear that apart from the reasons mentioned, other factors also played a role in the securitization of this country's foreign policy; the factors that were highlighted by Afghan and foreign factors so that Afghanistan remains at the center of attention of international community and attract the necessary financial and political support. In the meantime, especially the failure of the state in Afghanistan facilitated the process of securitizing of the country’s foreign policy.

Conclution:

 The final consequence of the securitization of Afghanistan's foreign policy in the period under review was the fall of the government and in fact, the collapse of the republican system on August 15, 2021, A consequence that was raised as the main threat in Afghanistan’s foreign policy and many efforts were made to prevent it, and as a result, a lot of security-military, political and economic support was provided by the international community.

United States of America hold first rank in the world based on COVID-19 pandemic crisis infection and deaths, and has been critiqued about the poor management and leadership of the COVID-19 crisis.Therefore, this question is raised, what are the factors of the failure of the United States governance system in managing the COVID-19 pandemic crisis?To answer this question, published papers in 2020 and 2021 are explored and analyzed.For this purpose,the Meta-synthesis method and open coding are used.Meta-synthesis findings showed that the studied papers posed six basic factors as the failure factors of US governance system in managing the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, respectively: structural factors (federalism and intragovernmental relations and separation of powers (Senate, House of Representatives, and federal government)); political factors (political ideology, political industry, and partisan and political polarization); factors relevant to public management and leadership (personality of the US president (Trumpism), and crisis management and leadership); social factors (distrust, social injustice, social disconnection (disintegration)); factors relevant to government nature and capacity (inefficiency of bureaucracy (government administrative structure) and privatization), and policy factors (neoliberal policies and health policies). Knowledge from this research could change the view of the world scholars and practitioners toward paradigms and theoretical foundations of management and governance from USA or at least rethink them. Because, affecting factors on the failure of the United States in the successful dealing with COVID-19 is beyond United States' President and his administration failure and disability, and is entrenched in the United States inefficient and declining political and governance system.

A series of events since 2011 made the international world undergo changes that affected the Middle East and North Africa region more than before; From Syria, to Yemen, and today, when the crisis has spread in Sudan, this country with a complex population composition, although it is generally divided into Arab and African descent, but the social layers of the population are more diverse and add to the internal chaos of this country and the background It has become a source of foreign interference. So this question is important that why and how the roots of this internal turmoil become the basis for foreign interference? It seems that the main reason for this problem is the political structure and the lack of authority in this country, which still remains in a pre-modern tribal-monarchy system; Although modern institutions such as parliament, army, etc. can be seen, many coups in this country have increased the severity of this intolerance and the lack of formation of institutions based on political function and prevented the construction of a rational bureaucratic system and the emergence of tolerant political agents. In this regard, this research investigates and analyzes by collecting the necessary data through library and internet data and using a descriptive-analytical method, and at first it has an overview of Sudan's past and internal problems (economic, political, etc.) and then deals with current events and discusses and interprets the set of influential factors and interventions; This discussions will show why the internal disturbances and foreign interventions of this country have been talked about.

The security issues of the world today have a certain entanglement and complexity that each of which can lead to other security issues. one of these new issues is the collapse of government. the issues of the failure of governments in matter of international peace and security was first raised by the united states of America after 11 September. however, the international community has not had a clear understanding of the threat to international peace and security posed by the collapse of government. in this regard, a study of UN resolutions on the crisis in Somalia, which has been recognized as a failed state in the world for three decades since 1991, seeks to identify the various threats to international peace and security caused by collapse governments came out. In this descriptive content analysis study, 97 UN resolutions on the Somalia crisis were analyzed. as a result. it has been determined that the failure of government will pose at least 13 types of threats to international peace and security.

Of the most unexpected events in the year, 2021 was the collapse of the Afghanistan government, on August 15th, 2021, and the re-emergence of the Taliban’s Islamic state (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) without facing up serious resistance from the state and society. How can one analyze the Taliban`s takeover of the country? This is the central question that guides the analytical narration in the text. The present research attempts to come up with a multi-faceted scheme to respond to the question. In this regard, the paper hypothesizes that the Taliban movement managed to retrieve its sovereignty owing to symmetry of some factors: its internal social solidarity/ coherence in the context of Afghanistan’s segmented society and failed state, and connivance in the international environment as well. To justify the hypothesis, the paper takes advantage of some theoretical approaches under a combinative theoretical framework. The constituents are as follows: the concept of ‘Asabiyyah’ (social solidarity in Ibn Khalodn's sense of the word), ‘resource mobilization theory, the quadruple crisis of the regime, and the role of the international environment in revolutionary transformation. According to the framework, the Taliban`s mobility to conquer the country was proceeding continually because of internal social solidarity driven by its ethnic (Pashtunism) and religious (Deobandi Salafi) foundations. It is whilst, on the contrary, there had been a segmented society and failed state due to a crisis in the process of nation-state building. Consequently, not only was there were lack of national solidarity and united orientation against the coherent ethnoreligious movement of the Taliban, but also the Taliban utilized the government’s inefficacies and miss-functions (such as juncture and corruption in the political system) to mobilize the followers and attract the potential ones among the disappointed people. In terms of the process of capturing the country, the Taliban’s mobility pattern showed some formal similarities to ‘Eastern Revolutions’ (in Huntington's sense of the word); that is, launching from the periphery to the capital. Having learned from the past, the Taliban came up with a more pragmatic orientation in its second round. While showing a tendency to negotiate with internal and foreign effective agents in the political environment of Afghanistan, the Taliban aimed to represent a modified picture of the movement compared to the long-standing violent image. To sum up, the causes of the Taliban`s success in re-taking political power can be narrated as the symmetry of the strong movement and the weak nation-state; the ethnoreligious social solidarity of the Taliban, and the lack of national solidarity and efficient government. Afghanistan went through difficult times in 2021. It was not yet summer when those provinces came under the pressure of the Taliban fighting forces and then dominoes fell one after another until the Taliban forces reached the gates of Kabul. Finally, in the middle of August, to the surprise of the world, the capital fell and the Taliban managed to seize power in Afghanistan for the second time and start a rapid transformation in the Afghan political system in order to revive the Islamic Emirate that was overthrown in 2001. There are factors involved in the occurrence of this transformation, some of which are the responsibility of the Afghan government and the others part of the United States: 1. The announcement of the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan; 2. Weakness and a deep gap in the leadership of the Afghan government; 3. The deep gap between army and country policies; 4. Perpetuation of the corrupting incomes caused by drugs, as well as increasing the Taliban's income generation from local sources; 5. Denial of many problems in the organization, training, equipment, and leadership of Afghan forces at least from 2007 onwards by the US, NATO, and the Afghan government; 6. The low level of readiness of the Afghan army due to dependence on American forces; 7. Dependence of Afghan forces on contractors for equipment; 8. The wrong focus of America and NATO on only the terrorist and military threat of the Taliban instead of evaluating the reasons for their increasing progress, 9. Focusing only on the cities and densely populated centers and leaving the villages and suburbs; 10. Not paying attention to the strategy of the Taliban, which was preparing for a massive advance toward the north and other regions at the same time as the peace talks. This development has been analyzed from different perspectives, such as examining the causes of the weakness of the Afghan government, the role of foreign powers, its impact on the future of Afghanistan, regional relations, and its threats and opportunities for Iran. What distinguishes the current research is the focus on analyzing why and how this political transformation occurred from the perspective of "revolutionary transformation theories". In this context, the question is raised, how to analyze the Taliban's re-gaining power? The nature and context of the recent political transformation in Afghanistan have been such that the fixation on one of the common divisions of revolutionary transformations (revolution, coup, civil war, etc.) hinders the understanding of the various dimensions and complexities of this transformation. Based on this, the current research is based on the hypothesis that the theoretical analysis of this event requires a combination of old and new theories about the logic of political transformation. In this sense, the Taliban's ethnoreligious movement, relies on the element of nervousness, in the conditions of the crisis of the nation-state in Afghanistan, i.e. a mixture of a fragmented society and a bankrupt government and symmetry with suitable international conditions, without facing serious resistance from the society, the government and successful foreign actors to restore its sovereignty in Afghanistan. The way this transformation took place was similar to the style of eastern revolutions, advancing from the periphery to conquering the capital. The present research consists of several parts. First, in the form of a combined theoretical framework, the theoretical possibilities of old and new theories are highlighted in the direction of designing the elements of a conceptual model. In the next steps, we show the implications and examples of each of the elements of this combined theoretical framework for the analysis of the Taliban's resumption of power. In order, to the importance of nervousness in the group cohesion of the Taliban, the effect of social disintegration and the absence of the national government on the non-formation of anti-mobilization against the Taliban, and symmetry with the appropriate international conditions in the transfer of power. In the end, by freely using the style of eastern revolutions, we explain the formation of this transformation (how the Taliban advance).

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been bombarded with challenges beyond conflict, tension, and competition since 2011 up until now (2021). Even though this critical moment, or rather vicious cycle, has been analysed extensively, none of the studies have addressed the simultaneous challenges posed by "awakening" and the "COVID-19" pandemic, which have played a critical role in the regional crises. Therefore, this study sought to examine how the countries affected by these two waves have remained in the path of the weak, bankrupt, and failed states, and what lies ahead of them. This was a descriptive-analytical research study and the data was collected through secondary research, involving a review of library, documentary, and online sources. The research findings indicate that many of the MENA countries affected by the two waves of awakening and COVID-19 are still continuing on the path of weak, bankrupt, and failed states due to their failure to resolve internal challenges in the economic, social, cultural, political, and military sectors. These countries have fallen behind in terms of economic, health, and social developments and are weighed down by corruption and inefficiency, which means the adverse effects of these conditions will likely continue to exist in the coming decade or decades.

It seems that ISIS has not disappeared and its activities in Afghanistan shows that this terrorist group is dangerous yet. On the experience of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria we can ask an easy question: what is the ISIS structural weaknesses and strength? The researcher of this article has asked this question from military experts and some businessmen that have evaluative experience from ISIS territory. According to deep dialogue of writer with them the most weakness of that group is anachronism or its birth in a new time. But ISIS has a huge strength that the most important of them is its Ideology and violence industry. Author concludes that ISIS can revive in some regions, spatially I countries that have corrupted or failed state.

Among the issues considered in the international security debates over the past few decades is the question of failed states. These governments have different effects on different spheres of international relations. Failed state of Iraq has been considered internationally in recent years in this respect. The study seeks to examine the impact of the failed state of Iraq on international security. The main question of our research is that how the failed state of Iraq could have an impact on international security? The hypothesis examines the various issues that arise from the government of Iraq and influences international security, which shows that the government has been unable to solve the problems, so it has been the cause of insecurity in this country and, consequently, in the world. The Copenhagen School Theory, in fact, gives more opportunity to explore new security issues to researchers in the field of international affairs and security. Weakness and failure of the Iraqi government provided the basis for the formation of three types of fundamental, social, economic, commercial and physical threats for international setting. Iraq, as a failed state, lacks many security and human standards and, likewise, the rule of law, control of corruption and freedom, have lost their meaning among people. Threats such as unemployment, weak economy, poverty, lack of a sustainable educational system, immigration, infectious diseases, smuggling and displacement are among the most pressing social and political threat to international security, which arise from the failed state of Iraq.

The issue of failed states is one of the issues that have been raised by the international security debate in recent decades. These governments have different effects and implications for various areas of international relations. One of the implications is international security. The Iraqi government is one of the failed countries that has been considered in international relations in recent years. In this study, we will focus on the political, economic, security and social components of the Iraqi government's overthrow and then we are looking to examine the impact of this flurry on international security. Accordingly, the main question of the present study is what are the characteristics of the Iraqi government's inability? Another important question can be further elaborated on this: How will Iraq's failed government affect international security? In the hypothesis, corruption, frustration, weaknesses and shortcomings of the Iraqi government in the economic, political, security and social fields can be pointed out, which in turn will lead to threats to international security.

If we categorize ineffective states into weak, fragile, and failed states, it becomes clear that in the 20th century, Africa was home to most failed states, weakness and fragile states were in the Middle East and Latin America. But since the beginning of the 21st century, weak Middle Eastern states have been on a downward spiral toward becoming failed states in such a way that now three out of 10 failed states, namely Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, are in the Middle East. The present article seeks to identify the determining factors in this transition. The findings of the study shows that out of five causes of state failure, corruption and plundering by the government and reform crisis are common to the three mentioned countries. These two causes, coupled with unique factors in each country (intensification of religion and ethnic conflicts in Iraq, the decline in the power of democratic processes in Syria, and the war in Yemen) have led to them becoming failed states.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of a failed state on the new war in the Middle East. The main question is that how failed state has caused spread new wars in the Middle East? The hypothesis is that the existence of numerous failed states makes the Middle East a failed zone. As a result, new wars spread from one country to other countries in the region. Therefore, the continuation of failed states is equal with continuation and spread increasing violence in the Middle East.

The aim of the present paper is to examin the features and characteristics of a failed state with emphasis on the failed state in Libya. The paper seeks to answer the following questions: "Under what conditions does a state end in failure? And what are the criteria of a failed state?" With regard to the situation in Libya after Gaddafi and the Libyan scene involved in multiple matters, the country can be regarded as a failed state.
With the beginning of the Islamic awakening in Tunisia, crisis-prone countries such as Libya faced the awakening of the Muslims. In Libya, after 9 months of conflict between Gaddafi forces and the revolutionaries, the anti-government forces finally gained victory in August of 2011. Following the victory of the Libyan revolutionaries, a new stage began in the socio-political life of the country.
At first, it seemed that the process of nation-state building in the country would be taken slowly and with slight ups and downs. However, despite such hope and earlier efforts, after the collapse of the Gaddafi government, not only a powerful state did not take the stage in Libya, two governments, two parliaments, two prime ministers and two ministers entered the scence. During these years, Libya has been torn in fighting between two groups, one of which claimed that they are the genuine revolutionary forces and the other claimed that they have been trying to restore the country to the path of revolution.
In the true sense of the word, there is still no government in Libya, and the governments established after the revolution in this country have inherited the inefficiency of Gaddafi's failed state, and are now proceeding along the path of state failure. Considering the situation in post-Gaddafi Libya and many other factors, this country could be regarded as a failed state. Libya is now a country with a government so weak that is unable to provide even its own security.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper is formed and based on the failed states theory, using the destructive method for exploring failed state indexes in order to examine the failed state in Libya in the post-Gaddafi era.
Findings: The new achievement of this paper lies within the situation that when there is no ability to perform functions such as security, welfare, civil society, democracy and legitimacy, the government is in a state of bankruptcy and one is faced with a phenomenon known as a failed state. The situation in Libya is an example of such a state. Tribal tendencies, regionalism, weakness of state institutions, and insufficiencies in various areas such as proper military structure, consensus among the elites and the state, democratic culture and civil society, elites, religious scholars and leaders, control over lands, infrastructure for economic, and foreign intervention are all signs of a failed state in the country.
Originality/Value: The failed state is a political body that has disintegrated to a point where basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government no longer function properly. Loss of control, instability, inability to provide public services and interact with other states are the main characteristics of a failed state which is the case of Libya.

Historical evidences show that state-building round in the third world and developing countries has not been carried out successfully and has been faced with the most challenges consist of: identity, legitimacy and nation- building crisis and religious- ethnic violence. In this research. the problem is that what do have been the important social challenges or impediments of state-building in today Afghanistan? Hypothesis is that, the most social challenges of state- building consist of: racial-ethnic cleavages, identity crisis and violence related to these cleavages, destructive role of Talebanism and the it’s fanatic tribalism, cultural poverty and serious traditionalism of this society. In this research, this problem has been explained with the method of sociological-causal explanation. In recent century, the historical evidences show that, the racial-ethnic cleavages and identity crisis and violence’s related to these cleavages have been the most social challenges of state- building in Afghanistan and in this perspective, the crisis in recent presidential elections has been analyzed.

This Article tries to answer this question: which theory can help us to understand & explain the Nature of Arab World Changes in the nature of Arab World Changes in sol, and predict the future trends of these changes? Author argues that everyone of these six theories including failed state, uprising against humiliation, Pervasive penetration, fourth Wave of Democracy, modification of Anti – Americanism and return ti Islamic Identity, can Explain some aspects of changes in Arab world, Mean while, the theory of "Anachronistic Governance", Can give us a more comprehensive Explanation of these changes.

Bodin, Montesquieu, Ratzel, and Lucien Febvre mentioned the impact of geography on historical and political treads. Geographical determinism means that geographical environment overshadows the destiny of people. One of the most important issues in geographical and historical fields as well as in political history is the boundaries of states and their security. Meanwhile, ethnic mosaic communities pose serious threats against the security of borders. Today, these communities exist in a vast geographical range extending from southwest Asia to Africa. Therefore, a proper understanding of political developments in Afghanistan is not possible without studying its ethnic geography and mosaic society.Afghanistan undergoes the crisis of ethnic geography. Centrifugal forces have begun to fight against the central government and against each other to maximize their power, this has resulted from geographical-ethnic situation of Afghanistan and its ethnic-cultural diversity. The lack of domestic authority has intensified the military conflicts between various ethnic groups. Also, the geographical situation of Afghanistan, which makes it a buffer state, has undermined the structure of the central government. In fact, geographical determinism imposes the status of a buffer state on Afghanistan. Today, we witness a "failed state" in Afghanistan resulting in ethnic confrontations and the collapse of its national sovereignty.