A serious analysis of state weakness indicators should take into account political, economic, social and cultural in a comprehensive way to measure state performance.
In 1993 appears in the American academic, a new concept. This is the notion of "failed state" that, along with other labels such as "underdeveloped" country, "Third World", "pseudo", "narcodemocrático", "totalitarian", "authoritarian", "decertified "" terrorist, "" pariah "," rebel " is added to the list of the worst international stigma may suffer a nation. Even before then, from dissimilar parameters measuring the breakdown of state apparatus, some countries, especially in Africa, had begun to be listed in the scientific community as "quasi-states' (Jackson, 1987), and then as "shadow states" (Reno, 2000), "pre-modern states" (Cooper, 2002), "lawless areas" (Cirino, 2002), "states within a state" (Kingston and Spears, 2004), among others.
After September 11 attacks, the debate became relevant geopolitics. In the National Security Strategy presented by President Bush in September 2002, weak states and in the process of failure was considered a "threat" more for U.S. security than those with claims for expansion. Since then, state failure is no longer a mere academic status to become an indicator that affects the treatment of the States in the international community by governments, multilateral organizations, think tanks, universities and academics, while determines and justifies intervention proposals.
But what is a failed state? The primary function of any state is to provide political goods to its citizens. Real determining the content of the social contract that justifies its existence and whose definition depends on the state concept is adopted. Thus, from the perspective of Weber, the state is defined as one that has the "legitimate monopoly of violence" that is basically an entity that controls a territory and within it ensures security and law enforcement. For its part, a look contractarian the State (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau) can assess their degree success of the origins (legitimacy) and the level of social justice (Rawls) it guarantees. To this extent, the economic and social indicators acquired such importance as legal and political. In turn, an international legal state concept (Kelsen, Carré de Malberg, Jellinek, Heller) emphasizes the international recognition of national sovereignty of the state as its essential defining element, so that today countries not recognized by the UN or pseudo-states "(Palestine, Kosovo, Puerto Rico, Republic of Northern Cyprus) would not only be unsuccessful but would have no such character.
Moreover, as the field of knowledge from which to advance the analysis of state weakness will give priority to different types of indicators: an economist would not hesitate to consider the per capita income, inflation, unemployment rate or the rate of human development as critical indicators, while a political scientist privilege to the control of the territory, the application of law, the legitimacy of the institutions or regime stability.
In short, a serious analysis of state weakness should consider and weigh according to context, various parameters (political, economic, social, cultural) to measure the degree of success state, measurement is always cast a historic location on the strength-weakness-aligning, and will depend, of course, the priority to be given to each aspect of state action.
The transition from Colombia through the wall of shame in a precarious state has been dramatic. So far this century has been termed a state "in the process of failure" (Mason, 2000), "weak" (McLean, 2002) and "partially collapsed" (Pizarro 2004). In 2005 the magazine Foreign Policy and Fund for Peace ignited further alarms with the publication of the first Failed States Index Global where Colombia is ranked 14 as a failed state in the same room " critical "breakdown and imminent danger of collapse that countries like Sudan (post 3), Iraq (4), Somalia (5), Haiti (10) and Afghanistan (11).
Since then, the alarm level in that index is published annually has been declining: in 2006 the country appeared in the post 27 (still in danger ) in 2007 at 33 in 2008 to 37 in 2009 to 41, until reaching the last year in box 46, and outside the danger zone (now in the gray zone or borderline ).
Recently, former President Uribe and President Santos, the first in a conference delivered at the University of Oxford on September 20, 2010, and the second one that gave New York two days later, the same formula used to talk about the country: "Colombia: Failed to pop star status. "
So now we are "a rising star." Without doubt, a rising star of unemployment the highest in the subcontinent in 2009 (13%) and 2010 (12.4%), according to Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC) ; inequality: a national Gini coefficient of 0.578 Colombia was the most unequal country in Latin America in 2009 and, according to Human Development Report 2010 UN , "loss in human development potential due to the inequality" remains high (28.6%), corruption, since 78 out of 178 in the world and 10 from 18 Latin American context, according to the Transparency International index , those displaced by violence: an unbeatable world record (beating Iraq and Afghanistan) of 3.758 million people displaced by violence, according to the latest figures available from the UNHCR and CODHES, and now also affected by floods and winter: more than two million and a reconstruction of the country making is estimated to cost twelve billion pesos.
Although some advanced state in terms of recovery of territory from the guerrillas (not in terms of security, according to recent rates of urban violence), the supposed "demobilization" paramilitary that took place during the Uribe government has recently been undermined by the emergence of "neoparamilitares" and BACRIM. The safety results have also been seriously tarnished by the deterioration of other social and economic indicators, finally, are the direct costs paid by the country today have invested (wasted "?) An increasing share of GDP on defense reaching a peak of 6 percent in 2008.
All this without mentioning the cost in terms of institutional weakness which represented the last two governments, making Colombia a "Altered State" (Garcia and Revelo, 2010) due to traffic in several regions patronage of the country that had traditionally characterized a front capture of institutions by the mafia and paramilitary structures, today one-third of the elected officials who ruled during the last decade are processed by "para-politics" ( Claudia Lopez, 2010).
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