Editing Failed state (section)

=== "Nation-building" by developed countries ===
Steward and Knaus (2012) tackled the question "Can intervention work?" and concluded that "we can help nations build themselves" by putting an end to war and providing "well-resourced humanitarian interventions". They criticized the overconfidence of policymakers on nation-building by contrasting what they regarded as successful interventions in [[Bosnian War|Bosnia]] (1995) and [[Kosovo War|Kosovo]] (1999) with the failed attempt of nation-building in [[Iraq War|Iraq]] (2003) and [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|Afghanistan]] (2001–2021) in which the U.S. lost thousands of lives over ten years and expended more than a trillion dollars without realizing its central objective of nation-building.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Can intervention work?|first=Gerald|last=Knaus|isbn=978-0-393-34224-6|oclc=916002160|year = 2012|publisher=National Geographic Books }}</ref> When a so-called failed nation-state is crushed by internal violence or disruption, and consequently is no longer able to deliver positive political goods to its inhabitants, developed states feel the obligation to intervene and assist in rebuilding them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rotberg |first=I Robert |title=Failed States, Collapsed States, Weak States | url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/statefailureandstateweaknessinatimeofterror.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190121184600/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/statefailureandstateweaknessinatimeofterror.pdf | archive-date=2019-01-21 | url-status=dead}}</ref> However, intervention is not always seen positively, but due to past intervention by for instance the US government, scholars{{who|date=March 2022}} argue that the concept of a failed state is an invented rationale to impose developed states' interests on less powerful states.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/28/failed-states-western-myth-us-interests|title=Failed states are a western myth|last=Ross|first=Elliot|date=June 28, 2013|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

The labeling of states like Somalia or Liberia, as failed states, gives [[Western world|Western countries]] the legitimization to impose the western idea of a stable nation-state. It is commonly accepted that nation-building or international response to troubled/rogue states happens too late or too quickly which is due to inadequate analysis or lack of political will. Still, it is important to highlight that developed nations and their aid institutions have had a positive impact on many failed states. Nation-building is context-specific and thus a countries' cultural-political, as well as social environment, needs to be carefully analyzed before intervening as a foreign state.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bøås |first1=Morten |last2=Jennings |first2=Kathleen M. |title='Failed States' and 'State Failure': Threats or Opportunities? |journal=Globalizations |date=December 2007 |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=475–485 |doi=10.1080/14747730701695729 |bibcode=2007Glob....4..475B |s2cid=143992292 }}</ref> The Western world has increasingly become concerned about failed states and sees them as threats to security. The concept of the failed state is thereafter often used to defend policy interventions by the West. Further, as Chesterman and Ignatieff et al. argue, regarding the duration of international action by developed states and international organizations, a central problem is that a crisis tends to be focused on time, while the most essential work of reframing and building up a state and its institutions takes years or decades. Therefore, effective state-building is a slow process and it is disingenuous to suggest otherwise to the domestic public.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Chesterman | first1=Simon | last2=Ignatieff | first2=Michael | last3=Thakur | first3=Ramesh | title=Making States Work: State Failure and the Crisis of Governance | publisher=United Nations University Press  | year=2004 | url=https://www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/making_states_work.pdf}}</ref>