UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNewsNetwork / 20 October 2008 -- Democracy and modern institutions have spread across the developing world in the past three decades, but the results are not always as expected. In some notorious cases, parts of the state and the judicial system have become accomplices of organised crime and terror groups, generating intense public insecurity, stalling efforts to reduce poverty and causing major headaches for foreign governments seeking to stabilise these violent nations.

Based on a close study of Pakistan and Guatemala, as well as a number of other cases ranging from Fujimori's Peru to contemporary Guinea-Bissau, this Working Paper sets out to define the novel concept of the "parallel state". It explains the emergence of these states in contexts where democracy and open markets have recently been installed, and analyses the ways in which political leaders and the public connect with entrenched criminal groups.

The international community's dilemma is clear: in dealing with these countries, care must be taken not to secure strategic favours at the cost of empowering untouchable institutions.

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Keywords

Asia Crime Eastern Europe and Russia El Salvador Fragile state Governance Guatemala Guinea-Bissau Haiti Latin America & Caribbean Pakistan Peru Security Serbia

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Bio author: Ivan Briscoe

Ivan Briscoe studied philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at the University of Oxford, before receiving a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship to continue his studies for a year at Harvard University. He has also completed a master's degree in Development at Madrid's Complutense University. From 2004 he has worked as the editor of the English edition of El País (Madrid). He writes often on Latin America and developing world issues for Open Democracy (www.opendemocracy.net) and The New Internationalist, and has taken part in numerous radio programmes on the BBC, Radio Nederland and Radio France International.

Labels: United Nations, U.N., MaximsNewsNetwork, Parallel State

 

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