Abstract
The intention of this special issue of Social Sciences is to study state fragility and its relationship with conflict and grievances in the post-Cold War Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This article will lay the foundation for such a study by offering a conceptual foundation, data and the identification of the correlative associations that are specific to the MENA region. This article suggests that the relationship between political legitimacy, factionalism of the state, and conflict needs special, MENA-specific emphasis, as this relationship seems more prominently different in the MENA region, compared to the rest of the world. While in the rest of the world, different aspects of state fragility all relate to grievances and conflict dynamics, in the MENA region political factionalism has a disproportionate role in the explanation of conflict grievances and violence. Moreover, the role of oil dependence, and the impact of external intervention requires attention of specialists of the region.
Highlights
Induced human suffering in the post-Cold War era has often been described as something grounded in chaos, opportunistic violence and exploitation, mobilised by personal or group interest of identity groups that fragile states cannot control (Duffield 2001; Gilbert 2003; Heupel and Zangl 2010; Kaldor 1999, 2013; Kalyvas 2001; Melander et al 2009; Mello 2010; Münkler 2002)
This article will do exploratory work by investigating bivariate correlations between such indicators of state fragility, conflict and grievances that make sense from the perspective of the conceptual foundation. The intention of such exploration is to flag out the apparent anomalies of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), so that it would be possible for the rest of the articles of this special issue to focus on MENA-specific structures and dynamics
The use of the State Fragility Index (SFI) indicator for economic legitimacy is especially useful in the MENA context, given that some of the problems of state fragility, developmental grievances and conflict seem to be causally linked to the dependence of the MENA countries and great powers on oil and other energy resources
Summary
Induced human suffering in the post-Cold War era has often been described as something grounded in chaos, opportunistic violence and exploitation, mobilised by personal or group interest of identity groups that fragile states cannot control (Duffield 2001; Gilbert 2003; Heupel and Zangl 2010; Kaldor 1999, 2013; Kalyvas 2001; Melander et al 2009; Mello 2010; Münkler 2002). The use of the SFI indicator for economic legitimacy is especially useful in the MENA context, given that some of the problems of state fragility, developmental grievances and conflict seem to be causally linked to the dependence of the MENA countries and great powers on oil and other energy resources. This is something where the MENA region differs drastically from the rest of the world. January 2007– Mauritania, July 2010 Libya 2011 March–October, August 2016–
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