IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/ctwqxx/v35y2014i2p333-344.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

State fragility and failure as wicked problems: beyond naming and taming

Author

Listed:
  • Derick W. Brinkerhoff

Abstract

Conceptualising state fragility and failure as a wicked problem set reveals the complex, ill-defined and interdependent nature of the reality behind these labels. This essay builds on the contributions to this special issue by examining why the fragile/failed state concept remains in good currency despite its analytic weaknesses. The discussion reveals that the parsing of state fragility into its component parts and the development of related indicators reflect efforts to tame the wickedness of the problem set; this has led to peace-building and state-building interventions whose plans and actions do not effectively take account of what is necessary to achieve their intended aims. A better problem-solving match would look beyond naming and taming, incorporating lessons from the implementation literature and international development practice. However, achieving this would depend upon the political will of both labellers and the labelled.

Suggested Citation

  • Derick W. Brinkerhoff, 2014. "State fragility and failure as wicked problems: beyond naming and taming," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 333-344, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:35:y:2014:i:2:p:333-344
    DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2014.878495
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/01436597.2014.878495
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/01436597.2014.878495?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Klejda Mulaj, 2019. "On State-Building and Wicked Problems: Stateness, Nationhood and Mimicry," International Studies, , vol. 56(2-3), pages 129-146, April.
    2. Ariel I. Ahram, 2024. "In Search of a Middle East and North Africa Peace System," Contemporary Review of the Middle East, , vol. 11(2), pages 168-191, June.
    3. Adama A. Gross & Uriah G. Bailey & Inioluwa Ogunseye, 2024. "Corruption, Prebendalism and the Fragile State: A Case Study on Liberia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(2), pages 1445-1457, February.
    4. IACOBUTA Andreea-Oana & ASANDULUI Mircea & TIGANAS Claudiu-Gabriel, 2015. "Institutional Environment, Initial Conditions And State Fragility In Post-Communist Countries," Revista Economica, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 67(4), pages 63-77.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:35:y:2014:i:2:p:333-344. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/ctwq .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.