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The state we're in: so-called 'failed states' are not just temporary anomalies but symptoms of how today's global market works.

Article Excerpt
The unrest in the Solomon Islands and now the social and political collapse in East Timor that has led to an increase in the Australian military and police presence has generated no commentary on Australian policy in the Pacific. The need to rethink could hardly be more pressing. A generation ago, policy was preoccupied with state-building framed by developmental concerns, with a relatively narrow modernising focus on economy. Today it has been 'refined' and focused upon issues of security: it now seeks to prop up residual states while treating the Pacific as a dumping ground for refugees.

This does not mean that developmental funding has ceased altogether, but it is now utterly framed within the terms of what has become known as the 'failed state'. The predominant interest is now in the re-institution of political order and security. It follows that military and police forces will make up the major elements of any agreed (or resisted) intervention. While a military aspect may be quite necessary in many circumstances of social breakdown, this misses the point of policy directed at failed states. Here, the military option is a prime focus. In terms of the usual emphasis of politics upon short-term thinking, failed state policy wins hands-down compared to a generation ago.

The...

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