The State, War, and the State of War by Kalevi J. Holsti (1996)

Résumé du document

The State, War and the State of War has been published in 1996. Its author, Kalevi J. Holsti is a professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. This book is based on his previous study: Peace and War: armed conflicts and International Order 1648-1989. The work was published just after the end of the war in Bosnia and the conclusion of Dayton Agreements. To some extent, it reflects the issues the world was dealing with at that time: the difficult construction of a new international order after the collapse of the Soviet Union and a new proliferation of states since the end of de-colonization.

Extraits

[...] The author finally concentrates on the role of the United Nations since 1989. The main feature seems to be its changing norms, which “altered the principles of sovereignty and non-interference.” (p.190) The main examples are the military intervention to secure food and medicine delivery in Somalia, the creation of no-fly zones within sovereign Iraq and Bosnia, creation of a protected area for the Kurdish population. The second feature is its implication in the redefinition of weak states government, by launching programs of reconstruction and democracy's measures. [...]

[...] It derives from the fixation and the delimitation of territorial boundaries, as well as the right to tax its people within that boundaries, the increase of the centralization process or the institutions of justice, security and order. (p.43) Holsti especially emphasised the term “community”. To create a State, there must be a community. It can be a community of citizens like in France, or a community of Nationals like in Germany, which share language and culture. The problem of weak states comes, for the author, from the recognition of the right of self-determination by Woodrow Wilson in 1919. [...]

[...] Are the weak states owning such characteristics ? 7 Weak state and the state-strength dilemma The weakness of the post-1945 states primarily comes from two characteristics: They contain many communities and are linked to outside communities, which played a big role in the formation of the state. It means that the fundamental decisions have been taken in the metropolitan capitals (for instance, Western diplomas helped to write constitutions). In short, a weak state lacks respect for central authority among the community. [...]

[...] They also elaborate new concepts to define the states which are said to be failing. William Zartman's book: Collapsed States) The author thus concentrates on wars and conflicts since 1945 and tries to demonstrate that war, traditionally presumed to occur between states, now occurs mostly within states, which leaves the international order unable to deal with such conflicts. He also argues, in his main part, that the rise of internal wars derives from the problems of “weak states” which cannot challenge the traditional mission of the State. [...]

[...] II) Critics and comments As the book has been written in 1996, the question for us is to know how relevant it is in 2002. First the author has argued that such conflicts would be the wars of the future and not wars between states. He was unhappily true. Secession and identitarian conflicts are the major conflicts of our times and are called in another way protracted conflicts. Moreover, Holsti's thoughts about the need for the United Nations to re- define its role seemed to be relevant, because it had been designed for a Westphalian system of States : Today the United Nations lacks legitimacy and strength to intervene in countries where wars are threatening the world order. [...]