James Dunnigan discusses The Frustrating Permanence of Failed States:
“Failed states” have been around for a long time. In fact, one of the major achievements of mankind was the development of the nation state. But as the history of the last few thousand years has made clear, creating a nation state is difficult, and running it efficiently is even more of a chore. Despite the efforts of the long-gone European colonial governments, and nationalistic locals, most of Africa still remains an ungovernable place. It was that way when the Europeans showed up in force during the 19th century. Back then, most of the continent had no government beyond that provided by tribal councils, or more ambitious ethnic warlords. It had been that way since the dawn of time. It was still that way in many other parts of the world.The establishment of the United Nations after World War II led to the generally accepted fiction that the entire planet was run by real, functioning, governments. As we enter the 21st century, it’s become obvious that large areas still lack functioning governments. And many that do currently have a government, are cursed with problems that threaten to destroy those governments at any minute. A classic case was Ivory Coast, which for a long time was seen as one of the best governed nations in Africa. But the key to the stability in Ivory Coast was local politicians staying away from ethnic or tribal demagoguery. Eventually, one major politician played the ethnic card, and chaos followed. Same situation in Iraq, where Kurds, and Sunni and Shia Arabs, were kept in line for centuries by the domination of the Sunni Arabs (about 20 percent of the population, but owner of nearly a hundred percent of the guns). The Iraq situation is not unique. Many other, seemingly peaceful, parts of the world remain that way only because one minority terrorizes the others into subservience.