A very rapid technological development at the turn of the 20th and 21th century, and the transition from an industrial society to an IT society marked even more the division of the “rich North” and “poor South”. Drastic differences in the distribution of world income have caused intensifi cation of old problems such as illegal immigration in many parts of the world, smuggling weapons, drugs, organised crime and terrorism as well as the emergence of new challenges related to the rapid development of so called “falling or failed states” especially in some parts of the world. Among the categories of countries in international political relations, increasingly often it can be found the category of “falling or failed state”, which is not in a position to operate internally as well as on the international scene. Problems that are related to the status of the bankruptcy of a state unfortunately are not problems of such a state only, but this is a challenge for the entire international community and international organizations. For this reason the European Union, as a signifi cant participant in world policies, cannot remain passive against these challenges and threats so it should and shall take actions to help in the stabilization of the situation in such countries. The primary question to be asked is whether this aid and other activities are effective with respect to the future of those countries or whether it is only the ad hoc attempt trying to control the situation.
The magnitude of the disaster of September 11, 2001 brought to bear a general recognition that terrorism is a global problem that required urgent attention. The response of the international community was a war on terror against murderous, oppressive, violent and hateful groups. Since then failed states have been considered as cradle and fertile grounds of terrorism, which threatens national as well as global security. This premise is based on the assertion that there is a direct link between failing states and international terrorism. However, the following text disputes this claim by using quantitative data and empirical research, and thus denies the whole concept of the war on terror leads by the USA and Great Britain.
The aim of the article is to characterize the contemporary face of migrations within Africa and from Africa to Europe placing in a broader geopolitical, economic as well as cultural and historical context. The introduction discusses trends in migration in Africa in the last half-century. Next, the state crisis in Africa is characterized as the main determinant of intercontinental migration. The next part of the article presents the phenomenon of migration from Africa to Europe – including its ritualization and stereotypization. In the summary the possible changes in the migration dynamics of Africans are described in the context of the policy of the European Union.
PL
Celem artykułu jest charakterystyka współczesnego oblicza migracji w obrębie Afryki oraz z Afryki do Europy, umieszczona w szerszym kontekście geopolitycznym, ekonomicznym, a także kulturowo-historycznym. We wstępie omówiono trendy w migracjach w Afryce w ostatnim półwieczu. Następnie scharakteryzowano kryzys państwowości w Afryce, jako główną determinantę migracji międzykontynentalnych. Przedstawiono również zjawisko migracji z Afryki do Europy – z uwzględnieniem jej rytualizacji i stereotypizacji. W podsumowaniu dokonano oceny możliwych zmian w dynamice migracji Afrykanów w kontekście polityki Unii Europejskiej.
Bezpieczeństwo jako przedmiot badań w ostatnich latach zyskało na popularności wśród przedstawicieli dyscyplin nauk społecznych. W ramach badań ekonomicznych badania nad bezpieczeństwem prowadzone są w obrębie jednej z ekonomik szczegółowych – ekonomice bezpieczeństwa. Zapewnienie bezpieczeństwa to jedna z podstawowych funkcji państwa, warunki jej spełnienia leżą w obszarze zainteresowania wspomnianej dyscypliny. Ostatnio ze względu na coraz większą liczbę tzw. państw upadłych badacze m.in. J. Kleer [2015] wskazują, iż bezpieczeństwo stało się globalnym dobrem publicznym. Każdy człowiek ma prawo do poczucia bezpieczeństwa, mimo iż terytorium, na którym mieszka nie zawsze takie poczucie zapewnia. Powstawanie państw upadłych jest efektem silnej rywalizacji o zasoby (surowcowe, zasoby wody, technologii) przy słabościach instytucjonalnych organizmów państwowych. Powstaje więc pytanie zasadnicze w jaki sposób i kto ma zapewnić bezpieczeństwo w warunkach erozji państw narodowych. W tym kontekście istotną rolę mają do odegrania instytucje ponadnarodowe takie jak ONZ, Unia Europejska czy NATO. Celem artykułu jest wskazanie na znaczenie bezpieczeństwa jako dobra publicznego (globalnego dobra publicznego) w warunkach niestabilności układów międzynarodowych i znaczących różnic rozwojowych skutkujących powstawaniem państw upadłych. Państwa upadłe w żaden sposób nie wywiązują się z podstawowych funkcji, nie posiadają kontroli nad własnym terytorium, są obiektem ataków międzynarodowych grup przestępczych, korupcji itp. Państwa upadłe stanowią istotny problem ekonomiczny i potencjalne zagrożenie dla bardziej rozwiniętej części świata. Istotne w tym kontekście staje się poszukiwanie alternatywnych metod poprawy sytuacji i bardziej sprawiedliwe kształtowanie procesów rozwojowych.
EN
Security as the subject of studies has gained popularity among the representatives of social science disciplines in recent years. Within the framework of economic studies, the studies over security are conducted within one of the specific economy – security economy. Security guarantee is one of the basic functions of the state and the conditions of its accomplishment lie in the area of interest of the discipline mentioned. Recently, because of the growing number of so called failed states, researchers such as J. Kleer [2015] point out that the security has become the global public good. Each human has a right to feel secure, although such security is not always provided by the particular inhabited territory. Development of failed states is the effect of strong competition for the resources (such as raw materials, water resources, technology) by the weaknesses of institutional state systems. As a result, the fundamental question arises of how and who is going to provide security in the conditions of erosion of national states. In this context, the transnational institutions such as United Nations, European Union or NATO have a significant role. The aim of the article is to show the meaning of security as a public good (a global public good) in the conditions of instability of international systems and considerable developmental differences which result in arising of failed states. These states do not perform their basic functions in any way, they do not have control over their own territory and are the subject to attacks of international criminal groups, corruption and the like. Failed countries constitute a significant economic problem and a potential threat for the more developed part of the world. In this context, it is crucial to seek for alternative methods of improving the situation and fairer formation of developmental processes.
Despite being a mineral-rich country, in 2012 the Central African Republic (CAR) was ranked 10th in the Fragile (formerly Failed) States Index according to Fund for Peace. The history of this country has been turbulent. Regular rebellions and disastrous state economic policies have led to economic, political and social collapses in the CAR. The most recent rebellion, conducted by Michel Djotodia and Séléka’s rebel coalition was different than previous coups, supported financially and military by France and Chad. The rebellion has had several stages and lead to the CAR being accused of cannibalism, religious war and genocide. Its conclusion is meant to be a division of the CAR into the supposedly Muslim and Christian parts, even though it does not reflect the country’s actual religious divide; the majority of the CAR’s mineral resources, however, are located in what would be the Muslim part. The article describes the events that took place between December 2012 and May 2014, which formed the basis of false accusations of genocide, religious war and cannibalism in the CAR. The article points towards the Séléka organisation, which from December 2012 has been carrying out its plan to decimate and mentally and financially impoverish the Central Africans, leading to the country’s division. The article analyses two military organisations that have been fighting each other since December 2013, describing their military aims, the course of fighting and the results of their military actions. The text presents both the consequences of aid given to the CAR by France and Chad, and their hidden agenda.
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