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Rogue state
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Rogue state is a term applied by some international theorists to states considered threatening to the world's peace.
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Encyclopedia
- States currently considered "Rogue States" by the United States:
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- States formerly considered "Rogue States" by the United States:
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 - Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
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Rogue state is a term applied by some international theorists to states considered threatening to the world's peace. This means meeting certain criteria, such as being ruled by authoritarian regimes that severely restrict human rights, sponsor terrorism, and seek to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.
In the last six months of the Clinton administration, the term "rogue state" was temporarily replaced with the term "state of concern" but the Bush administration has returned to the earlier term. The U.S. government perceives the threat posed by these states as justifying its foreign policy and military initiatives, as in the case of anti-ballistic missile programs, which are held to be grounded in the concern that these states will not be deterred by the certainty of retaliation.
In late 1980s U.S. officials considered North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Libya as "rogue states". The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan removed the country from the list, and Iraq followed suit after the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Libya achieved success through diplomacy and now is also not considered in the list. The concept of "rogue states" was replaced by the Bush administration with the "Axis of Evil" concept (gathering Iraq, Iran, and North Korea). U.S. President George W. Bush first spoke of this "Axis of Evil" during his January 2002 State of the Union Address.
As the U.S. government remains the most active proponent of the "rogue state" expression, the term has received much criticism from those who disagree with U.S. foreign policy. Critics charge that "rogue state" merely means any state that is generally hostile to the U.S., or even one that opposes the U.S. without necessarily posing a wider threat. Some others, such as author William Blum, have written that the term is applicable to the U.S. and Israel. Both the concepts of rogue states and the "Axis of Evil" have been criticized by certain scholars, including philosopher Jacques Derrida and linguist Noam Chomsky, who considered it more or less a justification of imperialism and a useful word for propaganda.
Rogue states can also be differentiated from 'pariah states' such as Burma-Myanmar, Sudan, Syria and Zimbabwe who considerably abuse the human rights of their populations whilst not considered a tangible threat beyond their own borders, although the terms have been used interchangeably.
In virtually all international foreign policy circles, rogue states are considered to be those nations utterly ruled by individuals (rather than subject to a popular electoral process) and whose legitimacy, intentions, and notions of the process of legitimate succession (if any) is highly suspect. Furthermore, rogue states ( as opposed to nominal non-newsworthy dictatorships which pose no external threat) typically become consequential due to their engagement in the threat - or conduct of - war, particularly against neighbor states, without regard to International Law. (See Megalomaniac).
Bibliography
Critical of the "Rogue State" concept:
- Chomsky, Noam, Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs ISBN 0-89608-611-9
- Derrida, Jacques, Rogues: Two Essays on Reason 2005 ISBN 0-8047-4950-7 (trans. Brault and Naas)
External links
- - Official White House statement
- - Article by Edward S. Herman which argues that the U.S. is a rogue state.
- The Washington Post, 2000, by Robert S. Litwak (use 'search' to find the article on the huge page)
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