Uh… you might want to do some refresher reading. The two Yemens were unified in 1990, and constituted an approximately functional country until the present civil war and Saudi intervention. Rwanda of course fell into butchery in 1994, but has recovered quite considerably since, politically and economically. Eritrea is a poor, violent and authoritarian country, and did itself no favors in fighting Ethiopia, but that war ended in 2000. Economically at least, there has been significant recovery.
Per the Chance doctrine:
“To be considered a state all that is required is to announce your statehood and make it stick against all comers”
I’d say they’re well on their way.
ISIS is not a highly-functioning state, but it is functioning that way. If they’re still there in another five years they’ll start to be recognized by some other state and start to acquire some legitimacy on the world stage.
But it’s always part 2 ‘make it stick’ that’s the tricky part.
By this standard, any gang-controlled territory in, say, Baltimore constitutes a political subdivision.
According to whom? Please cite the source of the criteria you are using.
I don’t think so, their mantra is that they don’t accept nationalism or the concept of a nation state whatsoever, as this goes against the idea of one Ummah under the Caliph.
Thanks for the corrections.
Is North Cyprus a State? Is Nagorno-Karabakh a state?
Is Jefferson a state?
A state which is not recognized by any existing state is no state. Otherwise, anything anywhere could be a state by simple proclamation.
“Rwanda is so freaking centrally governed that they have national street-sweeping day once a week.”
Sounds alright.
The only real answer to this is “that depends- how do you define a state?” There isn’t some single keeper of the term “state”, and probably the most important part of the question is about what you intend to do with the answer.
“State” and “Non-State” are not really binaries. There are countless levels of political organization, from a hunter-gatherer band in the rainforest to the UN. There are rebel movements, ungoverned areas, overseas holdings, proxy states, governments in exile…all manner of things that are kind of like a state, and kind of not. In a world where not every central government is strong, when does one cross the magic line into becoming a state? That depends on who you ask and why you are asking.
Personally, the only definition of a “state” that makes sense to me is one involving recognition. The only real meaning of “state”, to me, revolves around being able to engage in foreign relations.
Without foreign relations, you’ve got a civil war or rebel faction. With just foreign backing, you’ve got a puppet government or proxy force. But when you are engaging in actual foreign relations, you’ve got a state.
My correction- it’s one a month, on the last Saturday of the month in Kigali. All able bodied people aged 18-65 are required to participate. I’ve had a lot of friends come back from Kigali comment on how remarkably clean it is. Kagame has plenty of flaw, but you can’t claim he doesn’t govern the place.
https://challenges.openideo.com/challenge/vibrant-cities/inspiration/cleaning-day
They are very state-like, at least. Whatever standards you choose that would include all the UN states, all apply to these as well, with the sole exception of general recognition by other states.
How many does it take? The examples above are recognized by one and three other states, respectively. One hundred thirty-six states recognize Palestine, despite it being less self-determinative than Nagorno-Karabakh by some measures.
Here’s the difference, I hear how they collect taxes and utility fees. If ISIS is a state then the people should be getting something back for that - infrastructure, protection from other states, law enforcement … otherwise it is just extortion/stealing.
There are NGOs, which no one including themselves calls “states,” which engage in more effective foreign relations than some recognized states. Unless you intentionally define “foreign relations” in a way which restricts it to bodies meeting the other, widely-understood terms of statehood: territory, population, internal economy, self-government, sense of ethnocultural distinction, expression of sovereign self-determination, and ability to protect and assert these things.
If you think about it, a state needs :
a. Enough military forces/terrain obstacles that neighboring states and rebels can’t just take over without paying a heavy price. The “blood price” has to be high enough to discourage, say, neighboring states taking over just for the extra money or territory. OR, it needs agreements with other states who have such military forces and who have a reputation to keep their word.
b. A functioning economy to keep (a) going
c. A government with some kind of succession plan and control of the military forces to keep (a) going
That’s all you actually need. All 3 mean that the state is stable, at least temporarily so, and worth putting on a map. IS may be close to this status. Ultimately, what defines a state is “I (or my best friends) have more weapons, and we say it’s a state, whatcha gonna do?”
Okay, so you think the Lords Resistance Army established a state in the former Congo? And that Bomo Haram has established a state in Nigeria? And the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has established a state in the Philippines? And the FARC runs a state in Colombia?
Yes, all of the above.
They’re making their own coins. I can’t find the video now (I think it was on Live Leak) but I saw a clip of a bunch of ISIS goons paving a street using one of those big roller machines. I think some people are uncomfortable acknowledging that states aren’t far removed from criminal gangs running a protection racket and collecting your tribute. For your own good, of course.
Do these groups have sufficient forces that
(1) they can openly leave the jungle and occupy cities, and win an armed conflict against the “rightful” government of those territories?
(2) They control enough income producing territory to buy the ammunition and pay soldiers to keep (1) true?
IS has (1) right now. Syria has basically been defeated. Insurgent tactics can slaughter counterattacks by the Iraqi government.