Purdue News

February 13, 1998

Failed states: A Purdue conference on international security

"Failed States and International Security: Causes, Prospects and Consequences" will feature nine international experts speaking on topics concerning these states, which threaten regional security and often bring demands for U.S. and international intervention.

"One of the realities of the post-Cold War world is the problem of failed states," said Michael Stohl, dean of international programs and coordinator of the conference. "Whether it's Bosnia, Rwanda or the Asian crisis, the world is seeing a growing number of entities that are failing or are in danger."

Stohl says these failures frequently affect the world outside the borders of these countries. Among the effects: the need to house refugees, increased demand for humanitarian aid, conflicts overflowing borders and the threat of outside military intervention.

One of the conference sponsors, the U.S. Army War College, sees failed states as a significant challenge to U.S. security interests. "It is imperative that we develop a better understanding of the nature and sources of state failure," says Col. John R. O'Shea, director of Strategic Outreach Programs for the Army War College. "In the absence of such an understanding, the policy responses we choose may themselves not only fail to resolve the crisis, they may in fact make it worse."

Students and members of the community are welcome to attend conference sessions, which run from 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Thursday and Friday (2/26-27) in Room 310, Stewart Center. A schedule of events is posted on the Internet at http://www.ippu.purdue.edu/info/gsp/FSIS_conf.html. Information about the conference also is available from the Office of International Programs, (765) 494-9399.

The conference is sponsored by the Army War College, the Indiana Consortium of International Programs, the Midwest Consortium for International Security Studies, the Louis Martin Sears Endowment, Purdue's Department of Political Science, and the Human Rights and Governance program of Purdue's Office of International Programs.

The schedule of events:

• Thursday, 9 a.m. "Westphalia, the End of the Cold War and the New World Order: Old Roots to a 'New' Problem." Speakers: Stohl and George Lopez, professor of political science, University of Notre Dame.

• Thursday, 11 a.m. "Failed States and the Failure of States: Self-Determination, States, Nations and Global Governance." Chadwick F. Alger, Mershon Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Emeritus, Ohio State University.

• Thursday, 2 p.m. "Failing States: Failing Systems." Michael Nicholson, professor of international relations, University of Sussex, United Kingdom.

• Thursday, 3:45 p.m. "The Responsibility That Will Not Go Away: Weak States in the International System." Hans-Henrik Holm, professor of international relations, Danish School of Journalism, Aarhus, Denmark.

• Friday, 9 a.m. "The Failed States Project: A Report." Ted Robert Gurr, University Distinguished Professor, University of Maryland.

• Friday, 11 a.m. "State Failure, Ethnocracy and Democracy: New Conceptions of Governance." Peter Wallensteen, Dag Hammarskj|ld Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

• Friday, 1:30 p.m. "Grasping the Undemocratic Peace: The Relative Absence of International War in Latin America." Lothar Brock, professor of peace studies, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.

• Friday, 3:15 p.m. "Democratization in the Third World: The Role of Western Politics and Research." Georg Sorensen, professor of international politics and economics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.

Sources: Michael Stohl, (765) 494-9399; e-mail, mstohl@ippu.purdue.edu

Col. John R. O'Shea, (717) 245-4125

Writer: Beth Forbes, (765) 494-9723; e-mail, beth_forbes@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: Phone interviews with the participants before the conference may be arranged by contacting Michael Stohl, dean of international programs, at (765) 494-9399. Participants also may be interviewed during the conference.

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