The Political Invention of Fragile States: The Power of Ideas (ISSN)

Synopsis

This book investigates the emergence, the dissemination and the reception of the notion of ‘state fragility’. It analyses the process of conceptualisation, examining how the ‘fragile states’ concept was framed by policy makers to describe reality in accordance with their priorities in the fields of development and security. Contributors investigate the instrumental use of the ‘state fragility’ label in the legitimisation of Western policy interventions in countries facing violence and profound poverty. They also emphasise the agency of actors ‘on the receiving end’, describing how the elites and governments in so-called ‘fragile states’ have incorporated and reinterpreted the concept to fit their own political agendas. A first set of articles examines the role played by the World Bank, the OECD, the European Union and the G7+ in the transnational diffusion of the concept, which is understood as a critical element in the new discourse on international aid and security. A second set of papers employs three case studies (Sudan, Indonesia and Uganda) to explore the processes of appropriation, reinterpretation and the strategic use of the ‘fragile state’ concept.This book was originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.

Copyright:

2015

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

162 Pages

ISBN-13:

9781317625445

Related ISBNs:

9781138801530, 9781315754888, 9781317625452, 9781317625438, 9781138209725

Publisher:

Taylor & Francis

Date of Addition:

01/25/24

Copyrighted By:

Taylor & Francis

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.

Edited by:

Sonja Grimm

Edited by:

Nicolas Lemay-Hebert

Edited by:

Olivier Nay