Relating Fragile States to Social and Human Fragilities

Jean-Luc Dubois () and Patricia Huyghebaert ()
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Jean-Luc Dubois: IRD, Postal: Paris, France
Patricia Huyghebaert: GRET, Postal: GRET, Direction scientifique, Jardin Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France

Ethics and Economics, 2009, vol. 7, issue 1, 19

Abstract: Fragile States is a way of naming this particular category of states that have weak performance, insufficient service delivery, weak administrative and government power, and lack of legal rules. Little consideration is usually made to the fact that their own societies may also be fragile and easily jeopardised by inappropriate economic measures or external events. Poverty traps and social exclusion, unjust inequalities with lack of equity, feelings of insecurity and vulnerability, usually undermine the social fabric. Moreover, the people bear their own internal fragilities, which are based on the lack of capabilities and recognition, and interfere in the relationships between the groups that constitute the society. Therefore, dealing with the issue of fragility requires to consider various decision levels, from the personal one to the State level. Such an approach could allow fragile states to conceive preventive policies that would avoid the surge of a political crisis resulting from the combination of social conflict and individual failure.

Keywords: Capability Approach; Fragile States; Poverty; Public Policy; Vulnerability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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