Making States Work
Making States Work: State-Failure and the Crisis of Governance
January 2002-December 2003
Senior Associate: Simon Chesterman
Program Officer: Sebastian von Einsiedel
Partners: Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University; United Nations University
Funders: Government of Australia; Government of Germany; Government of Sweden; Rockefeller Brothers Fund; United Nations University
Program summary:
In partnership with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University and the United Nations University, this project built on the report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), The Responsibility to Protect, which presented its report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 18 December 2001. It focused on the roles and responsibilities of states vis-à-vis their own populations and the international community. Central to the project was the question of how political power defined through territorial boundaries is changing and what this means for the international security system.
A nostrum of peace and security debates since the 1990s is that conflict is now more intra-state than inter-state. This is true, in that conflicts are less likely to be between the armed forces of two states, but it is misleading insofar as it suggests that the state as such is somehow less relevant to modern conflicts. On the contrary, many internal conflicts of the 1990s can be traced precisely to the failure of state institutions to avert or contain conflict.
Reports of the death of the state are, therefore, greatly exaggerated. Indeed, there is a widespread recognition that solutions to these problems lie in cooperation between states, including through institutions such as the United Nations. But the way in which states participate in such institutions appears to be changing. Most importantly, the definition of states negatively through exclusive jurisdiction is gradually being replaced by a notion that states hold both negative rights and positive responsibilities.
This interdisciplinary project examined these two themes with a view to advancing research and policy debate on the changing nature of states.
Events
‘Making States Work: Failing States and Benevolent Empires’, Michael Ignatieff, Gareth Evans, Timothy Garton Ash, Adam Roberts, DM, SC, et al (Conversazione organized by IPA, Magdalen College & Boston University, Oxford, 4–6 September 2003).
Making States Work: State Failure and the Crisis of Governance’, Ramesh Thakur, William Zartman, SC, SE, et al (Authors Workshop jointly organized by IPA, Carr Center at Harvard University and United Nations University, Tokyo, 16–18 May 2003).
‘State Failure and the Crisis of Governance: Making States Work’, Michael Ignatieff, Mohamed A. Sahnoun, Ramesh Thakur, Alex Boraine, Stig Elvemar, Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, Nasra Hassan, Rama Mani, Deepak Nayyar, Barnett Rubin, DM, SC, SE, et al (IPA Conference, Pocantico, 22–24 November 2002).
Publications
SC, Michael Ignatieff and Ramesh Thakur (eds), Making States Work: State Failure and the Crisis of Governance (United Nations University Press, forthcoming).