The Weak State Narrative in the Middle East

The frameworks provided in our course readings this week suggest that many states in the Middle East and North Africa region are weak. State strength, as discussed by Anderson, reflects the state’s influence on social relations. States are strong if they have modern, participatory administrative structures, but weak states inconsistently provide services or collect taxes. Governance is the combination of political, social, economic, and institutional factors that affect the behavior of organizations and individuals. Therefore, state legitimacy is established by the continuity of an administrative staff, a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence, and the ability to collect taxes within a given territory.

Metrics in many countries in the Middle East, particularly countries that are endowed with natural resources and high populations, indicate that states are weak. The 2015 Fund for Peace Fragile States Index shows that almost all of the states in the Middle East and North Africa are fragile (http://library.fundforpeace.org/library/fragilestatesindex-2015.pdf). As cited in the Ayubi reading, Laroui believes that the “Arab state is obsessed with power and strength and may be strong in terms of its body. But the violence of this state is in reality an indication of its weakness and its fragility.” Weak Middle Eastern states have had to resort to defensive or violent behavior more frequently than strong states to maintain hegemony over a territory. Crackdowns on popular uprisings in Bahrain during the Arab Spring or the Syrian government’s atrocities against its people are indicative of a weak government. Virtually all of resource-rich, labor-abundant countries have been unable to bring economic success to the population and to mobilize the people around a common ideology (Richards and Waterbury 108). During the past 30 years, Algeria has struggled with economic crises and the government has not been responsive to the popular will. Many states in the Middle East and North Africa also struggle to maintain autonomy within their borders, as demonstrated by the rise of the Islamic State.

Blanket statements about state strength in the region can be misleading, as smaller countries endowed with natural resources grade above the Middle Income country average on rule of law, state capacity, and political freedom. However, the media’s portrays countries in the Middle East as weak. The headlines of The Economist’s Middle East and Africa section this morning suggest that the entire region is replete with weak states—“Gaza Strip: Rumblings underground;” “Jihadists in Libya;” “Jordan: At boiling point;” “Algeria: Who is in charge?” The prominence of the weak state narrative impacts how governments respond to crises in the region. Foreign governments take a more interventionist role to prop up or engage in “state building.” Since the state is considered weak, foreign intervention does not undermine the autonomy of that state—they already did not have control within its borders.