Written by Nikita Anand
Research Assistant,
Jindal Centre for the Global South,
O.P. Jindal Global University, India
The state derives its legitimacy through interacting with citizens and an organized and active civil society. A lack of accountability in ‘state-society’ relations leads to the creation of fragile states, thereby to “Global fragility”. Conflict or intolerance, in any form, is one of the prime causes of global fragility today. The unfortunate universality of fragility underscores the relevance of different causes that compound the existence of ‘fragility’, even in countries with democratic governance and reasonably advanced level of economic development. Therefore, this article examines the factors mentioned above such as ‘conflict and intolerance’, in any form, that leads to fragility, which obstructs the eradication of poverty and promotion of shared prosperity.
The world post cold era was introduced to a new term “Strategic Partnership”, where nations entered into partnerships for their interests in specific but vital areas. One such ‘Strategic Partnership’ happened after ‘9/11’ between the United States of America and India leading to growth in various sectors such as Military, joint training, and various other projects. But the dreadful incident also affected something forever- mutual trust and tolerance among nations. Although President Bush said, “We don’t blame an entire religion for the act of few”, but the government’s actions showed otherwise (Zhang,2003). Relevance of mentioning this evidence is to highlight the conflict and intolerance for a particular community worldwide. It was after the 9/11 crisis that the whole Islamic community was portrayed to be associated with violence and the United States had an aggravated interest in poorer countries (Fragile States). 9/11 was the beginning of the Muslim world being plunged into civil war and ng to face the brunt consequences in contemporary times as they face Migration issues, unemployment, etc. Was that the beginning of a new dimension that most likely led to creating a more fragile global community?
The relations of India and Pakistan also got aggravated and they blamed each other for encouraging terrorist activities. Indian security interests were not satisfied by the US’s decision.It decided to apply diplomatic pressure on General Musarafto stop cross-border terrorism, but it was unable to completely put an end to terrorist activity. Following 9/11, the US simultaneously improved ties with Pakistan and India (Ayesh, 2018). As a frontline nation in the global war on terror, it reestablished cooperation with Pakistan while continuing to forge strategic ties with India, which was long regarded as an ascendant power. However, the foundation for these relationships is very different. It is uncertain whether the US-Pakistan alliance will be strategic and long-lasting, particularly if the two nations are unable to broaden the base to include political, economic, and cultural spheres. However, even though it slowed down after 9/11 due to disagreements over how to view relations with Pakistan and how to combat cross-border terrorism, the future of the US-India strategic relationship appears optimistic in the long run. Its relations with other states also got worsened when India asked 20 million Bangladeshis to leave the country which made the security environment tightened. It also led to the introduction of new bomb making technologies and techniques and a knot between politics, terror and, crime was also seen.
Another prominent situation categorized as “extremely fragile” is widespread armed conflict or significant levels of collective and social violence. One of the many countries facing such a daunting challenge is South Sudan, which is a part of East Africa where war played havoc of catastrophic extent since 1955, costing over 2 million lives. Delving deeper into this, the government of the Republic of South Sudan (RSS) since independence in July 2011, has had an extreme disregard for the citizen’s priorities, who are resilient beyond belief and have endured decades of hardship and oppression (OECD).
Most of Asia’s fragile states are located in South Asia. The index places Pakistan at number 10 and Afghanistan at seventh in the world. Afghanistan is the most unstable Asian state. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal are ranked 29, 30, and 31, respectively, underscoring South Asia’s status. As, it is the continent with the greatest concentration of relatively fragile states due to factors such as population pressures, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), group grievances, uneven economic development, poverty, and economic decline, public services, human rights, rule of law, security apparatus, factionalized elites, and external intervention. Without a doubt, Pakistan’s internal instability is largely due to its competition with India. This rivalry has led to a military takeover of the state at the expense of democracy and development as well as state support for jihad organizations fighting against India. As a result, Pakistan’s own internal insurgencies have been given room to grow.Similarly, China’s rivalry with Indiais another major contributor to instability in South Asia. In particular, the smaller states are most affected due to the direct influence of China’s activity in that region. It has encouraged the growth of a dysfunctional, military-run state in Pakistan. in Afghanistan China-India’s struggle for political power and resources has played a very negative role. Another recent example is when Sri Lanka faced an economic crisis in the year 2022 and the President resigned due to unrest in the country and people were not able to afford necessities due to high prices and shortage of products (Clare,2013).
Irrespective of international goodwill, aid, and assistance from key partners like the United States, Europe, and East Africa, young states will miserably fail to face the challenges due to lack of trust and social cohesion between the new government and citizens. The recent years gone by have sparked numerous such situations in different parts of the world where nations have either faced ‘fragility, conflict and violence’ (FVC), or are on the verge of battling this disaster (Asian Development Bank). Since the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic, there have been a number of significant setbacks to stability in places all over the world, including Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and most recently, Eastern Europe. These most recent developments are only one more risk factor that affects FCV environments, along with food insecurity, climate change, rising inequality, demographic change, and the pandemic’s socioeconomic effects.
The world also faces Environmental fragility which affects the development of the country and the economic and social condition of its people. One of the biggest examples is Maldives which is most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, since its highest point is less than 2 meters above sea level, while the average height of its islands is 1.5 meters above sea level. The serious hazards posed by sea level rise could lead to widespread migration and the non-availability of cross-border repercussions. Children are anemic due to proper nutritional food and poor water security. People there have low access to medical facilities and due to predictions of Maldives being under water due to rising sea, domestic migration has been increasing rapidly despite the growing possibility of facing hostility. More than 750 million people—50% of South Asia’s population—were impacted by disasters between 1990 and 2008, causing close to 230,000 fatalities and over $45 billion in damages. In addition to floods, which have been responsible for over 50% of the more than 900 disaster events reported in the area over the past four decades, landslides, windstorms, sea surges, and cyclones are other common disasters there. (Asian Development Bank). Recently, the South Asia Climate Roadmap was launched to spread information regarding national climate planning and development plans in South Asia. The South Asia Climate Roadmap will also promote the creation of essential cutting-edge analytical tools. Over the next five years, South Asia Climate Roadmap will represent an explicit shift to better integrate and scale up World Bank Group support for mitigation and adaptation initiatives with development activities.
Over 1.6 billion people, or 22% of the world’s population, live in fragile contexts. By 2050, this figure is expected to rise to 3 billion people, comprising 32% of the world’s population. Fragility continues to be one of the major barriers to promoting peace and eradicating poverty, making it a top development challenge and priority for the global development community. Conflicts occur more frequently in Asia than everywhere else, and the frequency has not decreased. These conflicts have not yet halted Asia’s economic progress while being disastrous for certain nations or regions, and they continue to pose a threat to prosperity and stability for states where there live in fragile contexts, or 22% of the world’s population is a conflict (Clare,2013).
On many human development measures, women and girls in fragile states, suffer noticeably worse than their counterparts in non-fragile nations. The solution lies in supporting help prevent the escalation of intolerance and hatred, saving millions from being vulnerable, thereby averting conflicts and escalating global peace and prosperity.
Citations
Asian Development Bank. (n.d.-a). https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/27475/climate-change-sa.pdf
China’s impact on conflict and fragility in South Asia – ETH Z. (n.d.-c). https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/159304/f442e4ebf4586d7bccc7b75f81e80c88.pdf
COP26: Impact of climate emergency on peace and security exacerbates the vulnerabilities of those most affected by conflict: Children – world. ReliefWeb. (2021, November 1). https://reliefweb.int/report/world/cop26-impact-climate-emergency-peace-and-security-exacerbates-vulnerabilities-those
Challenges to strategic stability in South Asia: An analysis. (n.d.-c). https://www.issi.org.pk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/1-SS_Ayesha-Rana_No-2_2018.pdf
States of fragility 2022 | en | OECD. (n.d.-e). https://www.oecd.org/dac/states-of-fragility-fa5a6770-en.html
US security policy towards South Asia after September 11 and its implications for China: A Chinese perspective. (n.d.). https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/sa/sa_apr03/sa_apr03guz01.html
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author (s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Jindal Centre for the Global South or its members.
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