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23/12/2013

Central America: A new concept of weak state (DIEEEM20-2013)

The traditional concept of Westphalian State has been disrupted in the last years. The political State attributes, such as national sovereignty, national security, legitimate control of the violence, stable territory and population, have been put on risk. The insurgency, terrorism, drug trafficking and other counter-State movements are the typical ways for undermining the attributes of these States.
This paper tries to explain and exemplify a new concept of weak States, and to demonstrate that some countries in Central America may be evaluated to be into this scenario. The range of these group of countries could be broadened to countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras or Salvador, whose sovereignty has been undermined by the “narcos” and other criminal groups, which their unique proposal is to create a counter-State infrastructure all over the national territory. The traditional concept of fragile State must be expanded and re-oriented in this respect.

Author: Roberto Brocate, Baris Tugrul & Jerónimo Ríos Sierra.

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Central America: A new concept of weak state
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