Scientific Underpinnings of - START - National Consortium for the ...

Stability and the State
For states to be stable, they must establish and maintain relations of trust with their citizens.
Citizens’ loss of trust in the ability of their state to create an inclusive political, social and
economic order made predictable by rule of law will erode the state’s legitimacy. This erosion
has been characterized by “an increase in illegality, informality, and criminality in the economy;
ineffective delivery of basic services; failure to maintain or expand essential infrastructure;
increase in corruption; and appropriation of public assets for private gain. As a result,
administrative control weakens and the bureaucracy is seen as an instrument for abuse of power,
in turn leading to a crisis in public finances—where both revenue and expenditure are
unpredictable and budgeting becomes an exercise in emergency management.” 1 Ultimately the
state resorts to using violence internally, and armed groups begin to appear, defying state
authority and taking control of sections of territory.
State Dysfunction and Regional Instability
The kind of instability described above poses profound regional and international challenges. For
their neighbors, such states will be a constant cause for concern. Criminal networks will take
advantage of such poorly controlled environments, and they will also operate across state borders
through the trafficking of illicit goods such as drugs and arms, and other criminal activities. Such
activities subvert rule of law and threaten stability in neighbors, particularly neighbors whose
own legitimacy and capabilities are fragile. Ultimately, dysfunctional states may become bases
for insurgent groups operating against neighboring states. Insurgents will interact in complex
ways with criminal networks and will engage in criminal activities themselves in order to finance
and equip their activities. Unless states can be rehabilitated, these dark features of globalization
are extremely difficult and expensive to stifle.
The State and Global Challenges
As globalization has accelerated, new threats have arisen. Lessons from the first wave of
globalization would indicate that the spontaneous character of globalization demands that the
process be led rather than treated reactively. In this context, the task of building effective states is
both more formidable and more urgent. In the 21 st century, global challenges ranging from
climate change to sustainable energy and food security, to appropriate management of
international financial markets, all demand marshaling collective resources. Not the least of these
demands is the need for political resources, as no single state or group of states has the capacity
to confront such challenges single-handedly. The task of catalyzing the emergence of effective
states is essential for heading off global challenges that threaten stability.
Finally in this context, one of the key challenges to global stability is the arc of state dysfunction
itself, given the constellation of regional and global criminal and military risks, and the likely
humanitarian implications of ongoing state dysfunction.
The State and National Resilience
Citizens across the world are exposed daily to an array of powerful global forces over which, as
individuals, they exert little influence. An effective state, however, can plan for and respond to
the impact of such forces, whether through implementing early warning systems and evacuation
procedures for hurricanes, through providing reserves of food and water to insulate populations
from shortages, maintaining cash reserves, or implementing public health interventions. The
ability to effectively prepare for and prevent or mitigate the effects of a crisis is a key
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