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Measuring state fragility: a review of the theoretical groundings of existing approaches

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  • Ines A. Ferreira

Abstract

State fragility has become a resonant term in the development discourse over the past decade. In its early days it served as a catch-all phrase used by donor organisations to draw attention to the need to assist ‘fragile states’. In response to the call for a better understanding of how to deal with these countries, there was a surge in measures of fragility. However, it was not long before academics pointed to the murkiness and fuzziness of the term, and identified several caveats to most of the proposals for quantification. This paper reviews existing approaches to operationalise this concept, distinguishing between those that offer no ranking or only partial rankings of fragile states, and those providing ordinal lists of countries. The examination of their theoretical underpinnings lends support to the critical view that most existing approaches are undermined by a lack of solid theoretical foundations, which leads to confusion between causes, symptoms and outcomes of state fragility.

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  • Ines A. Ferreira, 2017. "Measuring state fragility: a review of the theoretical groundings of existing approaches," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(6), pages 1291-1309, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:38:y:2017:i:6:p:1291-1309
    DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2016.1257907
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    Cited by:

    1. Tim Glawion & Lotje de Vries & Andreas Mehler, 2019. "Handle with Care! A Qualitative Comparison of the Fragile States Index's Bottom Three Countries: Central African Republic, Somalia and South Sudan," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 50(2), pages 277-300, March.
    2. Martin-Shields, Charles, 2017. "State fragility as a cause of forced displacement: identifying theoretical channels for empirical research," IDOS Discussion Papers 30/2017, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    3. Anuradha Joshi, 2023. "What makes “difficult” settings difficult? Contextual challenges for accountability," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(S1), March.

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