Earl M. Bartley, ContributorSINCE THE mid-1990s the issue of the 'failed state' has become a concern of international relations and political sociology.
The concept came into vogue with the spectacular collapse of central government authority in Somalia in 1994 and the disintegration of that society into clan-warfare. Since the time of the Somalia collapse, the failed state concept has been frequently used as an evaluatory measure in relation to states experiencing circumstances similar to Somalia such as Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Congo, Indonesia, Afghanistan and Colombia. Though the issue has not been frequently considered in Caribbean studies, a look around the region suggests that the concept could be applied to Haiti, Guyana and Jamaica.
THE FAILED STATE
A failed state is different from one simply having problems; and given the varying degrees of central government collapse and social breakdown, social scientists have been speaking of 'failed,' 'failing' or 'flawed' states. Among the characteristics associated with the phenomenon are:
Collapsed, ineffective, or unaccountable central government;
A severe breakdown in the rule of law leading to widespread crime, fear, and personal victimisation;
A high degree of social unrest or anarchy, sometimes with social groups or regions acting autonomously, even asserting their independence;
Erratic, often brutal, law enforcement and uncertain justice;
A stagnant economy with falling investment, high unemployment, and crippling national debt;
Endemic corruption with the impetus generally coming from the top of the political system.
The causes of the 'failed,' 'flawed' or 'failing' state phenomenon are quite varied. In some countries like Somalia, Liberia, and the former Soviet Georgia, it resulted from civil conflict between different ethnic or regional groups. In others, from economic collapse as threatened in Argentina; and from the collapse of formerly authoritarian regimes without adequate mechanisms for orderly transfer of power among other causes.
The instability and other problems brought on by failed states is of growing concern to the international community; especially to nations with far-reaching global interests like the United States. The United States military is developing strategic doctrines to function in "not war, not peace" situations, and is devising "operations other than war" (OOTW), and "stability and support operations" (SASO) to function more effectively in "peace enforcement." More broadly the international community is concerned with human rights violations in the fractured states; and with humanitarian issues pertaining to the care and protection of refugees. The dangers of instability spreading from the failed state to its more stable neighbours and becoming a haven for terrorists and drug runners have also caused concern.
JAMAICA'S SITUATION
Jamaica today bears many characteristics of a failing, if not a failed state. Central Government authority remains visible but Government often functions without accountability to the people. And in certain urban areas, it appears to have lost authority to thugs who maintain order and collect 'taxes' through extortion.
Though we are not at war, our homicide rate is among the highest in the world, and most Jamaicans now live in such fear that even our best apartment complexes resemble upscale versions of the General Penitentiary. The country's high crime rate reflects the fact that our law enforcement is characterised by general ineffectiveness and random brutality; and justice is mostly an empty promise made to quell and disperse angry crowds at frequent roadblocks. Added to all of this, after 14 years of economic stagnation, the country is now trapped in a vicious circle and facing the prospects of social conflagration. Plainly put, the Jamaican state is spending twice what it collects in revenues and owes so much money, that in order to service the debt, the Government has to keep on borrowing which pushes up interest rates, which further inhibits growth and diminishes revenues, necessitating even more borrowing.
The crunch coming up is that to maintain the confidence of creditors at home and abroad, the Government will have to attempt to put its house in order by raising taxes steeply and slashing expenditures, with no guarantee that it is likely to produce an end to stagnation and a fair likelihood that it is going to produce massive social unrest.
WHO ARE TO BLAME?
Who or what is responsible for bringing the Jamaican initiative at nation-building to the point of collapse?
The Jamaican people took to the tasks of nation-building like fish to water, and have demonstrated remarkable common-sense, patience and tolerance. Within a decade of independence, the people had created a most dynamic music, binding their nation together and impacting the world with its messages of principled self-assertion, self-awareness, peace and love. Even its demand for 'equal rights and justice' was for just that, not for special privileges of one above the other.
Indeed, during the first two decades of independence, despite the existence of glaring inequalities and the urgings of their so-called intellectual superiors, the Jamaican people - especially the black majority, resisted appeals that would have fractured their young nation. In the 1960s they held at arm's length the call for 'black power' with its overtones of black supremacy; and again during the 1970s they resisted appeals to class warfare in the name of achieving radical social equality. In both instances, showing instinctive good sense, the people took what was positive from both ideological movements - black pride and equality of opportunity - and rejected the more divisive aspects.
The view has been advanced that the Jamaican people are lazy, undisciplined, and thieving. What this canard has always been stumped by, is why do Jamaicans abroad become hard-working, high-achievers? And the fact that the younger generation of Jamaicans have developed a bad reputation abroad in recent times might have more to do with post-independence socialisation, than perverse gene mutation.
Without any attempt at romanticising them, the fact is ordinary Jamaicans have been fairly hard-working, patient and committed to the task of nation-building. What has happened however, is that many of the country's institutions have not served the nation or the people well.
The news media have for much of the past 40 years (and before) been part of the establishment - more concerned with status and decorum, than being a crusader for the people's rights. The church, after playing a pivotal role in the first 125 years after slavery in settling, educating and guiding the people, have since independence also become part of the establishment, pandering to class and political tribalism with mushy-mouth incoherence.
Without a doubt though, the institutions that have contributed the most to the failure of the state are the two voted "most corrupt" by the Jamaican people -the police force and the political parties.
From the very outset, our political parties were birthed in disrespectful derisiveness, divisiveness, and power-seeking opportunism that often placed the interest of the tribe over that of the emerging nation. After independence the divisiveness and opportunism got progressively worse. By the late 1960s the people were being armed and set-upon each other in what is now the shell-shocked, bombed-out and crime-infested inner-city areas, the primary theatre of hostilities.
The divisiveness reached its murderous nadir in the 1970s when, in addition to the usual tribal divisions, were added those of class and ideology. Since the 1980s the violent divisiveness of the politics has abated, but the corruption and self-aggrandisement inspired by the politicians have undermined every decent social value and institution and accelerated social disintegration.
One of the worst affected institutions has been the police force who, from the late 1960s, seemed to have decided that it was easier to maximise personal and corporate goals by turning a blind eye to the grievous crimes the politicians were alleged to be instigating. Thus, bringing the politicians under the rule of law remains the most outstanding and urgent national priority.
So, is Jamaica a failing or a failed state? - which begs the question - when does failing become failed? You decide! But, like the 73 per cent of Jamaicans who believe we were better off under colonialism, I believe we have failed the first 40 years of nation-building. And though we retain the trappings of centralised authority (so does Haiti which few would dispute is a failed state) the Jamaican Government is dysfunctional and ineffective in performing even basic governmental functions. It has failed to provide security for the people; it does a very poor job of caring for the vulnerable, the displaced young and old; and far from providing an 'enabling' environment for business, its policies have disabled, dismantled and inhibited business activities in the country, with the promise of worse to come.
But Jamaica is not as devastated as Somalia or Afghanistan, and we do not have to rebuild from the ground up. To rebuild, we are going to need a new political ethos based on principled co-operation rather than opportunistic rivalry; reformed and strengthened institutions to uphold integrity and punish venality in public life; and we have to re-build the economy on the broad and capable backs of he masses of the Jamaican people. Because I know that like our pyramid-building Sumerian ancestors "over a path our tears have watered, we will come treading through the blood of the slaughtered."
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