rogue states
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"Rogue state" (or sometimes "outlaw state") is a term applied by some international theorists to states that they consider threatening to the world's peace. These states meet certain criteria, such as being ruled by
authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...
or totalitarian governments that severely restrict human rights, sponsoring terrorism, or seeking to proliferate weapons of mass destruction. The term is used most by the United States (although the US State Department officially stopped using the term in 2000); in his speech at the United Nations (UN) in 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated this phrase. However, it has been applied by other countries as well.Minnerop, Petra. (2002)
"Rogue States – State Sponsors of Terrorism?"
. ''German Law Journal'', 9.


History of the term

As early as July 1985, President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
stated that "we are not going to tolerate … attacks from outlaw states by the strangest collection of misfits, looney tunes, and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich," but it fell to the Clinton administration to elaborate on this concept. In the 1994 issue of ''Foreign Affairs'', U.S. National Security Advisor Anthony Lake labelled five nations as ''rogue states'': North Korea, Cuba, Iran,
Libya under Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Gaddafi became the ''de facto'' leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of young Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état. After the king had fled the country, the Revolutionary Comman ...
, and
Iraq under Saddam Hussein Ba'athist Iraq, formally the Iraqi Republic until 6 January 1992 and the Republic of Iraq thereafter, covers the History of Iraq, national history of Iraq between 1968 and 2003 under the rule of the Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction), Arab S ...
. He described these regimes as "recalcitrant and outlaw states that not only choose to remain outside the family
f democratic nations F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...
but also assault its basic values". In theory, to be classified as a ''rogue state'', a state had to seek to obtain weapons of mass destruction, support terrorism, and severely abuse its own
citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
. While four of the listed countries met all these conditions, Cuba, though known for repressing its citizens and its vocal criticism of the United States, was put on the list solely because of the political influence of the Cuban-American community and specifically that of the Cuban American National Foundation (pre-Jorge Mas Santos), whereas
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and Pakistan avoided being added to the list because the United States hoped that Damascus could play a constructive role in the Arab-Israeli peace process, and because Washington had long maintained close relations with Islamabad—a vestige of the Cold War. Three other nations, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
, and the
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, were treated as ''rogue states'' as well. The US State Department at times labelled Yugoslavia as a "rogue state" because its leader,
Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...
, had been accused of violating the rights of his nation's citizens, including but not limited to attempted genocide in Croatia and orchestrating the Srebrenica massacre in eastern Bosnia. The United States employed several tools to isolate and punish "rogue states". Tough unilateral economic sanctions, often at congressional behest, were imposed on or tightened against Iran, Libya, Cuba, Sudan, and Afghanistan. After the conclusion of the Gulf War in 1991, the United States selectively used airpower against Iraq for years during the Iraqi no-fly zones to force them in complying with various United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding disarmament (i.e., Resolution 687) and human rights (i.e., Resolution 688). Cruise missiles were fired at Afghanistan and Sudan in retaliation for terrorist attacks against U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998. In March 1999, NATO launched a massive air-bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in response to the Yugoslav Army's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in the province of Kosovo. In the last six months of the
Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...
, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced that the term ''rogue state'' would be abolished in June 2000, in favour of the term ''states of concern'', as three of the nations listed as "rogue states" (Libya, Iran, and North Korea) no longer met the conditions established to define a ''rogue state''. Libya was removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list in 2006 after achieving success through diplomacy. Relations with Libya also became more mutual following the eight month Libyan Civil War in 2011, which resulted in the National Transitional Council ousting longtime Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
from power. In 2015, after the US reopened its embassy in Cuba and restarted diplomatic relations with the Cuban government, Cuba was removed from the list of State sponsors of terrorism and was no longer referred to as a "rogue state". More recently, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump labelled Venezuela a "rogue state" due to its gross human rights violations, economic collapse and rampant excess deaths, anti-American stances and its reported involvement in international drug trafficking. During the 2017 UN general assembly, UN ambassador
Nikki Haley Nimrata Nikki Haley (née Randhawa; born January 20, 1972) is an American diplomat and politician who served as the 116th and first female governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, and as the 29th United States ambassador to the United Na ...
called Venezuela a global threat and a "dangerous narco-state". Some figures of the Venezuelan government, like Vice President Tareck el Aissami and Minister of Defense
Vladimir Padrino López Vladímir Padrino López (born 30 May 1963) is a Venezuelan four-star general serving as the current Minister of Defense for the National Armed Forces of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela since 24 October 2014. Military career On 5 July 19 ...
, were permanently banned from entering US territory, due to their involvement with human rights abuses and drug cartels. Later in 2017, the US government banned all high ranking Venezuelan government officials from entering US territory. Currently, due to the
2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis The Venezuelan presidential crisis is an ongoing political crisis concerning the leadership and the legitimate president of Venezuela; the office of the president has been contested since 10 January 2019, with the Responses to the Venezuelan p ...
, Nicolas Maduro's government (which controls Venezuela ''de facto'') is not recognized as legitimate by the United States or any other state in the Western Hemisphere, with the exceptions of Cuba,
Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
, Nicaragua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and
Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
. On June 19, 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the People's Republic of China a "rogue actor" at the Virtual Copenhagen Democracy Summit, saying that "General Secretary Xi Jinping has green-lighted a brutal campaign of repression against Chinese Muslims, a human rights violation on a scale we haven’t seen since World War II." In addition, Pompeo cited China's handling of COVID-19, "malicious cyber campaigns" it conducted, and its treatment of Hong Kong citizens as reasons for labeling China as a rogue actor.


Later terms

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration returned to using a similar term. The concept of ''rogue states'' was replaced by the Bush administration with the concept of an '' Axis of Evil'', which encompassed Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. U.S. President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
first spoke of this "Axis of Evil" during his January 2002 State of the Union Address. More terms, such as '' Outposts of Tyranny'', would follow suit. Because the U.S. government remains the most active proponent of the expression ''rogue state'', the term has received much criticism from those who disagree with American foreign policy. Both the concepts of ''rogue states'' and the ''Axis of Evil'' have been criticized by scholars, including philosopher
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
and linguist Noam Chomsky, who considered it more or less a justification of
imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
and a useful word for
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
. Some critics charge that ''rogue state'' merely means any state that is generally hostile to the U.S., or even one that opposes the U.S. without necessarily posing a wider threat. Others, such as author William Blum, argued that the term is also applicable to the U.S. and Israel. In his '' Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower'', Blum claimed that the United States defines itself as a rogue state through its foreign policy.


Usage by Turkey

On 23 February 1999, Turkish President
Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Sami Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously served as the ...
described Greece as a "rogue state" because of its alleged support of the PKK. Demirel said that "Greece serves as a sanctuary for members of the PKK seeking shelter and provides training facilities and logistics to the terrorists." On June 28, 2012, after the shooting down of a Turkish warplane by the
Syrian Army " (''Guardians of the Homeland'') , colors = * Service uniform: Khaki, Olive * Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki , anniversaries = August 1st , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = 1948 Arab–Israeli War Six ...
during the Syrian civil war, Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...
declared
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
to be a "rogue state". In October 2020, Turkish President Erdoğan described Armenia as a rogue state, referring to the
2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, the surrounding territories. It was a major escalation of ...
. He used the words "countries supporting rogue state Armenia in its occupation of Karabakh would have to face the common conscience of humanity" in his statements. Commentator Robert Ellis, writing in the British newspaper '' The Independent'' in 2016, claimed that Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan risks "being regarded as a rogue state" due to its increasingly authoritarian government, the deterioration of the human rights in the country, the Turkish government's involvement in Syria and its alleged support of terrorist groups. Similarly, Erdoğan made the following statements at the press conference he held after the cabinet meeting on October 5, 2020: "It is not possible for humanity to attain permanent peace and tranquility without saving the world from rogue states and their rogue rulers. Especially in our region, the number of rogue states is quite high. These rogue states, dating back to Israel, Greek Administration of Cyprus and the Syrian regime, persecute their own citizens and destabilize the world."


United States as a rogue state

Some critics of US foreign policy describe the United States as a rogue state. William Blum's 2000 book ''Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower'' suggests that US-led interventions around the world during and after the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
have threatened the world's peace. Noam Chomsky has also described the US as a rogue state after the assassination of Qasem Suleimani. Its nuclear proliferation and large numbers of nuclear warheads (the second most in the world), sponsorship of terrorist or guerilla groups to overthrow opposing governments especially in Latin America, and violations of human rights in war time are all suggested to be characteristics of a rogue state.


See also

* Axis of evil * Failed state * Rump state *
International isolation International isolation is a penalty applied by the international community or a sizeable or powerful group of countries, like the United Nations, towards one nation, government or group of people. The same term may also refer to the state a coun ...
* Pariah state * State Sponsors of Terrorism *
Troika of tyranny Troika of tyranny ( es, troika de la tiranía) is a description of the nations of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela used by United States National Security Advisor John R. Bolton in outlining United States foreign policy towards those nations. Bolton ...


References


Further reading

*
Blum, William William Henry Blum (; March 6, 1933 – December 9, 2018) was an American author, critic of United States foreign policy and socialist. He lived in Washington, DC. Early life Blum was born at Beth Moses Hospital (now part of Maimonides Medical ...
. (2006). ''Rogue state: a guide to the world's only superpower''. Zed Books. . * Chomsky, Noam. (2000). ''Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs''. Pluto Press. . *
Derrida, Jacques Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
. (2005). ''Rogues: Two Essays on Reason''. Stanford University Press. . Translated by Pascale-Anne Brault and Michael Naas. * Litwak, Robert. (2000). ''Rogue states and U.S. foreign policy: containment after the Cold War''. Woodrow Wilson Center Press. .


External links


Prevent Our Enemies from Threatening Us, Our Allies, and Our Friends with Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Official White House statement
The New America Foundation: Beyond American Hegemony
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogue State International security Political neologisms States by power status Political theories 1980s neologisms