What does failed state mean? When is a state a failed state or not a failed state? Could a state be a failed state and not a failed state at the same time? If the answer is "no", a state is either a failed state or she is not. If the answer is "yes", then "failed and "not failed" are poles on a continuum. Every state in this understanding must be a composite of "failed" and "not failed". If a state's location on the continuum leans toward the "failed" pole, she is a failing state. The opposite is also true. Then again what do "failed" and "not failed" mean? Whose definitions are in point? Is there a universal construct? Who may be the judge? Many commentators argue that a state is not a failed state if she consistently delivers agreed, expected benefits to its citizens and that citizens live up to their part of their bargain. The question arises what is the bargain? Who negotiated and agreed the bargain? Should it be binding on all and future generations?
I will argue that the U.S. while not being a perfect state is not a failed state. I suspect that there are some who would argue that if she stays on her current trajectory, she might become a failing state.
oa
-----Original Message-----
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 9:57 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ten factors that place the US in a success & failed state category
' a strong state can put ungodly numbers of people in prison and manage it.' Harrow
A surprising comment by a human rights advocate.
Was Nazi Germany a successful state?
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
africahistory.net
vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kenneth harrow [harrow@msu.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 7:18 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ten factors that place the US in a success & failed state category
taking each of gloria's points on what makes the u.s. a failed state might well be interpreting as evidence of the u.s. being the opposite of a failed state. a strong state can put ungodly numbers of people in prison, and manage it; can have ungodly numbers of people doing drugs, and still have a powerful economy functioning; needs a large debt to push the economic motor going, etc etc.
every one of those points is built on something other than a failed state, but rather the "state" of today's economic and political order.
what is a state, after all? isn't it the location of legitimate authority and force, the location of 90% of what the population internalizes about what behavior is necessary for an orderly society (following gramsci); the instrument that enables economically disparate classes to continue.... etc figure it out, the issue is not whether the u.s. borrows more or less, but what impact this has on the economy.
following krugman, we haven't borrowed enough to drive the economic engine, and the failure of europe is precisely in borrowing too little ken
On 6/5/14 12:00 AM, 'Adeshina Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series wrote:
Dear MamaProf. Gloria,
After going through these factors, I couldn't shake the feeling that some of them bother on the trivial (as if you want to rub our conceptual inexactitude in our faces). It even seems to me that both sides of the factors cancels each other out in favour of regarding the United States as not anywhere within the rank of recognised failed states. Most of the factors on the successful state column are enough to overwhelm those on the failed state column. Political stability says a lot in characterising a state as failed, failing or successful.
Ma, do those factors in the 'failed state' category give us a straighforward comparison between the US and Somalia/CAR/DRC/etc.? I doubt that.
The failed state category is definitely not an absolute one. But I don't think it means what you are suggesting: that a country has some factors that characterise it as failed and others that make it successful (except we stretch 'fail' beyond the border of meaningfulness). It should be easy then to conclude that we know a failed state when we see one but that that assumed knowledge fizzles out with the burden of conceptualisation. That explanation has its own merit.
An alternative explanation is to say that failure comes in degree to the extent that the political, economic and security framework of a state has ceased simultaneously to respond to concerted and focused statecrafting. 'Failed state' is a continuum that runs from failing to failed. Wikipedia alerts us to some indicators. First is the utility of signals like 'critical', 'in danger,' 'borderline' and 'stable' (the last, for me, does not enter the failure continuum). Second are the ecomomic, social and political indicators of imminent or full blown failure--demographic pressures, delegitimisation of the state, progeessive deterioration of public services, widespread violation of human rights, incidence of state within a state, acute interventionism, bla bla.
Can you still clearly see the US on this continuum ma? I know this may not be all that helpful, given the debates that had gone before on this thread. But I am just trying to outline my gut feeling about this. Which returns me to the classic Augustinian definitional frustration with time: What then is time? If no one asks me, I know. If I wish to explain it to the one who asks, I know not.
I think we know a failed state when we see one. I wish that explanation is enough to settle the matter.
Adeshina Afolayan
Sent from Samsung Mobile
-------- Original message --------
From: "Emeagwali, Gloria (History)" <emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu><mailto:emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu>
Date:
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ten factors that place the US in a success & failed state category
Ten factors that place the US in a failed state category and ten that place it in the success column.
Afro pessimists take note.
A. Failed State Category
1. A gigantic debt of 18 trillion dollars and a debt per GDP ratio of almost 101%
(Nigeria: 11%; Russia: 13.41%). Bankrupt municipal centers such as Nevada, Arizona,
North Carolina, Maine, Illinois, California etc. Many to come ..... See Time. Vol. 175. no. 25. 2010.
Catastrophic student debt, municipal debt and credit card debt.
2. Inability to keep the public safe on Sept 11, 2001; World Trade Center; Boston Marathon event, 2013 etc;
3. Inability to curb excessive greed in its banking and financial centers such that Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and financial entities generated a global financial crisis in 2008 with toxic financial instruments such as securitization.
4. 5% of the world's population consumes 24% of the world's energy.
5. 25% of the world's prisoners but 5% of the world population.
6. A retrogressive model for ' rendition' and torture programs at Guantanamo etc.
7. A massive divide between rich and poor: US Gini coefficient about 47 (Sweden is one of the least
skewed at 23. South Africa is now probably one of the worst in the world at 63.1).
8. Vocal intolerant fringes such as the KKK etc; Assassinations of high profile leaders from
Lincoln to JFK, MLK etc. High rate of shootouts and killings at places of learning and public
places eg Columbine, Sandy Hook - Connecticut, fuelled by a gun toting populace.
20 students shot at Sandy Hook. Mass shootings now normal.
9. Politicians bribed by the corporations in national elections through campaign funds
and the PACs; political gridlock. True democracy undermined by gridlock in its 2-party system. Corporations rule.
10. The world's largest consumer of anti-depressants, and hard drugs thus facilitating the massive drug cartels in the Americas
B. Success Category
1. A thriving film industry, Hollywood , that has major impact and influence around the world.
2. Several nobel prize winners indicating excellence in economics, chemistry, physics and peace.
3. Readiness to contribute to international charitable organisations eg the Clinton Project;
The Gates Foundation; Rapid response to external humanitarian crises. (Katrina was internal).
4. Political stability through free and fair elections on the average and a philosophy of democracy that has influenced multiple nations.
5. A magnet for streams of immigrants around the world and willingness to grant them citizenship -
unlike countries like Japan for whom immigrants are anathema.
6. A major center of technological innovation and invention for most of the 19th and 20th century.
7. Fantastic infrastructure in highways and byways.
8. Institutions of learning that attract streams of international students and utilize state of the art multimedia techniques.
9. An influential music industry that has accommodated and spawned diverse musical styles
from Jazz to Country to Hip Hop and more and influenced world music around the world.
10. Political stability. No military coups sponsored within.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History & African Studies
History Department
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain
CT 06050
africahistory.net
vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
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michigan state university
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room C-614 wells hall
east lansing, mi 48824
ph. 517 803 8839
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I will argue that the U.S. while not being a perfect state is not a failed state. I suspect that there are some who would argue that if she stays on her current trajectory, she might become a failing state.
oa
-----Original Message-----
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 9:57 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ten factors that place the US in a success & failed state category
' a strong state can put ungodly numbers of people in prison and manage it.' Harrow
A surprising comment by a human rights advocate.
Was Nazi Germany a successful state?
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
africahistory.net
vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kenneth harrow [harrow@msu.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 7:18 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ten factors that place the US in a success & failed state category
taking each of gloria's points on what makes the u.s. a failed state might well be interpreting as evidence of the u.s. being the opposite of a failed state. a strong state can put ungodly numbers of people in prison, and manage it; can have ungodly numbers of people doing drugs, and still have a powerful economy functioning; needs a large debt to push the economic motor going, etc etc.
every one of those points is built on something other than a failed state, but rather the "state" of today's economic and political order.
what is a state, after all? isn't it the location of legitimate authority and force, the location of 90% of what the population internalizes about what behavior is necessary for an orderly society (following gramsci); the instrument that enables economically disparate classes to continue.... etc figure it out, the issue is not whether the u.s. borrows more or less, but what impact this has on the economy.
following krugman, we haven't borrowed enough to drive the economic engine, and the failure of europe is precisely in borrowing too little ken
On 6/5/14 12:00 AM, 'Adeshina Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series wrote:
Dear MamaProf. Gloria,
After going through these factors, I couldn't shake the feeling that some of them bother on the trivial (as if you want to rub our conceptual inexactitude in our faces). It even seems to me that both sides of the factors cancels each other out in favour of regarding the United States as not anywhere within the rank of recognised failed states. Most of the factors on the successful state column are enough to overwhelm those on the failed state column. Political stability says a lot in characterising a state as failed, failing or successful.
Ma, do those factors in the 'failed state' category give us a straighforward comparison between the US and Somalia/CAR/DRC/etc.? I doubt that.
The failed state category is definitely not an absolute one. But I don't think it means what you are suggesting: that a country has some factors that characterise it as failed and others that make it successful (except we stretch 'fail' beyond the border of meaningfulness). It should be easy then to conclude that we know a failed state when we see one but that that assumed knowledge fizzles out with the burden of conceptualisation. That explanation has its own merit.
An alternative explanation is to say that failure comes in degree to the extent that the political, economic and security framework of a state has ceased simultaneously to respond to concerted and focused statecrafting. 'Failed state' is a continuum that runs from failing to failed. Wikipedia alerts us to some indicators. First is the utility of signals like 'critical', 'in danger,' 'borderline' and 'stable' (the last, for me, does not enter the failure continuum). Second are the ecomomic, social and political indicators of imminent or full blown failure--demographic pressures, delegitimisation of the state, progeessive deterioration of public services, widespread violation of human rights, incidence of state within a state, acute interventionism, bla bla.
Can you still clearly see the US on this continuum ma? I know this may not be all that helpful, given the debates that had gone before on this thread. But I am just trying to outline my gut feeling about this. Which returns me to the classic Augustinian definitional frustration with time: What then is time? If no one asks me, I know. If I wish to explain it to the one who asks, I know not.
I think we know a failed state when we see one. I wish that explanation is enough to settle the matter.
Adeshina Afolayan
Sent from Samsung Mobile
-------- Original message --------
From: "Emeagwali, Gloria (History)" <emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu><mailto:emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu>
Date:
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ten factors that place the US in a success & failed state category
Ten factors that place the US in a failed state category and ten that place it in the success column.
Afro pessimists take note.
A. Failed State Category
1. A gigantic debt of 18 trillion dollars and a debt per GDP ratio of almost 101%
(Nigeria: 11%; Russia: 13.41%). Bankrupt municipal centers such as Nevada, Arizona,
North Carolina, Maine, Illinois, California etc. Many to come ..... See Time. Vol. 175. no. 25. 2010.
Catastrophic student debt, municipal debt and credit card debt.
2. Inability to keep the public safe on Sept 11, 2001; World Trade Center; Boston Marathon event, 2013 etc;
3. Inability to curb excessive greed in its banking and financial centers such that Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and financial entities generated a global financial crisis in 2008 with toxic financial instruments such as securitization.
4. 5% of the world's population consumes 24% of the world's energy.
5. 25% of the world's prisoners but 5% of the world population.
6. A retrogressive model for ' rendition' and torture programs at Guantanamo etc.
7. A massive divide between rich and poor: US Gini coefficient about 47 (Sweden is one of the least
skewed at 23. South Africa is now probably one of the worst in the world at 63.1).
8. Vocal intolerant fringes such as the KKK etc; Assassinations of high profile leaders from
Lincoln to JFK, MLK etc. High rate of shootouts and killings at places of learning and public
places eg Columbine, Sandy Hook - Connecticut, fuelled by a gun toting populace.
20 students shot at Sandy Hook. Mass shootings now normal.
9. Politicians bribed by the corporations in national elections through campaign funds
and the PACs; political gridlock. True democracy undermined by gridlock in its 2-party system. Corporations rule.
10. The world's largest consumer of anti-depressants, and hard drugs thus facilitating the massive drug cartels in the Americas
B. Success Category
1. A thriving film industry, Hollywood , that has major impact and influence around the world.
2. Several nobel prize winners indicating excellence in economics, chemistry, physics and peace.
3. Readiness to contribute to international charitable organisations eg the Clinton Project;
The Gates Foundation; Rapid response to external humanitarian crises. (Katrina was internal).
4. Political stability through free and fair elections on the average and a philosophy of democracy that has influenced multiple nations.
5. A magnet for streams of immigrants around the world and willingness to grant them citizenship -
unlike countries like Japan for whom immigrants are anathema.
6. A major center of technological innovation and invention for most of the 19th and 20th century.
7. Fantastic infrastructure in highways and byways.
8. Institutions of learning that attract streams of international students and utilize state of the art multimedia techniques.
9. An influential music industry that has accommodated and spawned diverse musical styles
from Jazz to Country to Hip Hop and more and influenced world music around the world.
10. Political stability. No military coups sponsored within.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History & African Studies
History Department
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain
CT 06050
africahistory.net
vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
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