Insecurity and Development: The Rhetoric of the ‘Failed State’ ˚ S and KATHLEEN M. JENNINGS MORTEN BØA ‘State failure’ assumes all states are constituted and function in the same way: on a spectrum from good to bad. Yet the relevant question is not ‘Is the state failing?’ but ‘For whom is the state failing, and how?’ This captures the fact that different actors within the state have different interests; what is good for some – informalised power structures that enable elite consolidation of power and profit – may not be good for ordinary citizens; and that in fact, the goal of the regime may be to create and sustain structures and power relations that are generally considered the consequences of state failure. The concept of state failure is only useful in the context of human security, as it enables a fuller description of the realities and coping strategies in the state, taking into account agency, interests and incentives on the part of various local, national and regional actors. La notion « d’Etat de´faillant » suppose que tous les Etats sont constitue´s et fonctionnent de la meˆme fac¸on: avec une gamme allant du bon jusqu’au mauvais. La question pertinente n’est pas « est-ce que l’Etat e´choue ? » mais « pour qui l’Etat e´choue-t-il et comment ? » Ceci rend compte de la diffe´renciation des inte´reˆts selon les acteurs; ce qui est bon pour certains – des structures de pouvoir informelles qui autorisent le renforcement de la domination et des profits des e´lites – peut ne pas l’eˆtre pour des citoyens ordinaires; en fait, le but des re´gimes politiques peut eˆtre de cre´er et maintenir des structures de pouvoir qui sont ge´ne´ralement conside´re´es comme les conse´quences de l’e´chec de l’Etat. Le concept d’Etat de´faillant est utile uniquement dans le contexte de l’e´tude de la se´curite´ humaine car il permet une description plus comple`te des re´alite´s et des strate´gies correspondantes de l’Etat, en prenant en compte les inte´reˆts et les motivations des acteurs a` diffe´rents niveaux, local, national et re´gional. Morten Bøa˚s is a researcher at Fafo – Institute for Applied International Studies, Oslo. He has published extensively on African politics, the multilateral system, and regions and regionalisation. Email:
[email protected] Kathleen M. Jennings is a researcher at Fafo, focusing on conflict and post-conflict and human security issues. Email:
[email protected] The European Journal of Development Research, Vol.17, No.3, September 2005, pp.385–395 ISSN 0957-8811 print/ISSN 1743-9728 online DOI: 10.1080/09578810500209148 q 2005 Taylor & Francis
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