"Failed States and International Trusteeship" in The Global Covenant. Human conduct in a World of States, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000

Abstract

This chapter addresses the question whether international society has or should have any responsibility concerning the domestic civil conditions of independent countries. Some states clearly are a calamitous reality for their populations. But do they constitute a normative problem for international relations? Who is responsible of the uncivil and often unsafe domestic conditions of what are usually termed failed states? Are the government and citizens of those countries responsible? Is the society of states responsible? Is there any place for international trusteeships or protectorates in contemporary international society?