Go and tell people in DRC or CAR or Chad or Sudan or Niger that the status quo is not chaos ?

I mean, to an extend, that was the argument people used to defend dictatorships and such.. Democracy is chaos, democracy is messy, democracy can turn violent so let’s help the Mobutus of this world!

There are risks and rewards in everything. The question is to figure out if the risks are worth the rewards.

States exist and people want them. And because I believe there is a demand for them, I don’t believe for a second that the end of the existing one will result in anarchy. People would organize and create those institutions.

And because those institutions would be designed by them, there is a chance that they’ll be able to do things post-colonial entities are incapable of doing.

Thanks for pointing out the case of Somaliland. Like you said, it is democratic to a large extent, probably more so than many other African countries. And get this, I do not say that a state needs to be funded, or even recognised, by other states to be a state. If it can perform the basic functions of the state, which include physical security, like you stated, and it is able to control revenues in its territory to a certain extent – which the Somaliland government does – then I would call it a state.

My point is not that western governments should continue propping up failed states. I guess we all know that international backing is more often in protection of the interests of the funding/donating countries than for any other reason. What I consider is what happens when there is no state, or the image or symbolic imagination of the state. We live in a world where the state exists, even if only in the minds of people, and to take away the entity that is the ‘physical’ representation of that idea is to invite disorder. And we know too the lives that will be lost when there is disorder.

See, the argument against the lack of an organic state is inorganic is an old one. I would say that we should think of how to make states meaningful for people instead. Anarchy is appealing, but the consequences might be different than an imagined Utopia.

I am against the spirit of what Mr Luttwak said, not against the idea of propping up failed states. Why should Africa be the please to try out new ideas about how the state is not organic, ideas that have at their core the chaos? Why do people imagine that Africans are people who are not aware of what is happening in other parts of the world? Like I wrote in the post itself, the Africans of that kind of imagining only exist in the minds of those who imagine it.

So many thoughts to put down, but I guess I will leave it at that for the moment.

That means that they do not fullfil the basic functions of a state, the ones people need a state for (physical security for a start).

So what’s the point ? How is funding Kabila actually helping people being displaced in Kivu ?

(and i do not think Zimbabwe is a failed state but that’s another topic)

First of all, the safety of Saudi tankers and Ukrainian ships full of weapons is not really the best argument for the existence of a state in Somalia.

But furthermore, while there’s some loonies at Cato arguing against the existence of a state, any state (my first blog entry was about one of them), the argument here is really about the continued existence of current states and the possibility of them being replaced by something else if only the international community stopped helping failed states and (this is my addition) stopped giving economic legitimacy of plenty of others.

To make it short, entities HAVE emmerged out of the Somalia chaos, Somaliland, Puntland or even the short lived Islamic Courts state in the South. Arguably some of them have been much better states than Menguistu’s unified Somalia. Somaliland for instance is a democracy (imperfect but not bad at all by African standards) that manages to survive as a state with NO HELP from anyone.

And I think that’s the kind of “organic” devellopment we’re talking here.

And yes, Africans want things from the state but how do we know it’s not the second circle thing ? Do Yoruba voters express through their votes a preference for a technocratic state that would take care of the abject poverty in the Delta or in the North ? Did they express anything but “he doesn’t work for us” when they voted against Obasandjo twice ?

In short, the real issue is whever the current international order actually helps prop up dictatorships and kleptocratic states. After all, they do recognize the legitimacy of most of those heads of state, they do recognize the idea that governments ruled by tyrans and thieves should get a share of the natural ressources cash flow. Without those, the Kabilas, the Debys, the Bongos, the Sassous would be gone, period.

Anyway, I understand that African ‘wahala’ can be frustrating to many and so in offering suggestions for how to change things, some people will throw out the most extreme possible suggestion they can. But, people have to remember that there are many countries on the continent that have stable, peaceful, functioning governments.

Allowing under-performing governments to “fail” in Africa – what does that mean? If it means what i think it means, then to even make that suggestion is madness! Failure in ‘Africa’ is not an option. EVER! ‘Africa’ is not just a place on a map, it is a continent of civilizations, history, culture and most importantly HUMAN BEINGS who suffer enough, as is. To allow further deterioration of the nation states structures on the continent is to invite disaster. African countries, as imperfect as some of them may be, must find a way through the chaos to develop into nation states that can feed their citizens, protect their borders and offer the means for the people to cater for themselves instead of preventing efficiency and self sufficiency.

Look at the Congo, and all the countries that are rushing in there to get a foothold. Consider, as you mentioned, the pirates on the coast of Somalia. Or the boys in the Niger Delta. These pockets of unrest constantly and repeatedly spill over into neighboring countries expanding war, disease and suffering. We haven’t even figured out Darfur, yet!

I find it incredible that any person would wish further suffering upon a people who suffer enough, ignoring the fact that these are human beings. Africa must solve its problems, yes. And the solutions must be found via peaceful means. THAT IS THE ONLY OPTION FOR US REGARDLESS OF OUR LEANINGS AND NATIONALITIES.

Take care, Loomnie.