A pariah state is a nation considered to be an outcast in the international community.
A pariah state may face International isolation, sanctions or even an invasion by nations who
find its policies, actions, or its very existence unacceptable.
The scope of this article is a discussion of pariah statehood.
Background There is no central authority; but religious
bodies might designate a nation as an outcast, or pariah state.
In more recent times, however, the criteria for and attached implications of pariah statehood,
are the subject of much disagreement.
For example, the Nigerian scholar Olawale Lawal has stated:
There are so many open questions on the issue of Pariah State.
For instance who determines a Pariah State and how a nation becomes a Pariah State...
This becomes more profound when one realizes that a nation that is an outcast in one region,
has diplomatic and friendly relations with others.
By some criteria, nations can be considered pariahs within their own neighborhood of surrounding
states.
By others, an international body or perhaps a consensus among certain nations may govern
the meaning or use of the term.
Etymology The word "pariah" derives from Paraiyar, a
large indigenous tribal group of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Under the outdated caste system, the Paraiyar were members of the lowest caste, which were
called the "outcastes" by the English Imperial rulers of India.
The term "pariah" has come to mean "outcast".
Definitions A pariah state, defined in its simplest terms,
is an outcast state.
This is not a new term in the lexicon of International Relations, nor is it a new historical concept.
What is new, however, is what Lawal refers to as "the basis for Pariahood appellation."
Other definitions have been advanced that expand this basis, or perhaps add more academic
nuance, which may vary by author or the author's field of study.
These definitions are here grouped into two categories: definitions focusing on the lack
the pariah state objectively suffers from, and definitions focusing on the political
justification - given by other nations - for why that pariah state "deserves" their extraordinary
attitude towards it.
The first type of definitions is well exemplified by Bellany's definition, according to which
a pariah state is "A state lacking any significant soft power."
Similarly, The Penguin Dictionary of International Relations, defines the pariah states as "international
States/actors which, by virtue of their political systems, ideological postures, leadership
or general behavior, suffer from diplomatic isolation and widespread global moral opprobrium."
This definition, as the previous one, does not indicate what kind of political system,
ideological posture, leadership or general behavior, is ascribed to the pariah state
by the other nations.
The second type of definitions is most simply exemplified by Weiss's definition, according
to which pariah states are "states that violate international norms."
Similarly, Harkavy offers, "A Pariah State is one whose conduct is considered to be out
of line with international norms of behavior."
Geldenhuys gives a more detailed definition of that type: "A pariah country is one whose
domestic or international behaviour seriously offends the world community or at least a
significant group of states."
Marks's definition elaborates more: a pariah state is "a state with provocative policies
or expansionary territorial ambitions, measures of the absence of diplomatic relations with
neighboring states or the situational harm posed to other states if the state in question
acquired nuclear weapons."
Criteria for pariah statehood As of August, 2014, no internationally accepted
criteria exist for designating a nation as a pariah state, nor is there any single accepted
authority for doing so.
Some criteria are proposed in the definitions offered in the previous section.
For example, Harkavy and Marks make reference in their definitions to the international
behavior of a nation in order to qualify it for pariahood.
Marks goes one step further and includes the question of nuclear weapons in his criteria,
while Weiss adds "a state’s defiant existence in the face of international non-recognition.".
However, Bellany's sole criterion is a lack of soft power, while The Penguin Dictionary
of International Relations requires that the pariah states also "suffer from diplomatic
isolation and widespread global moral opprobrium".
Subjective designation No universal standard exists to prevent nations,
organizations, or even individuals from referring to nations as pariah states.
For example, political commentator and activist Noam Chomsky declared in 2003 and again in
2014 that the United States had become a pariah state.
Both declarations were based on results from Gallup polls showing that only 10 percent
of people around the world supported the US war in Iraq and that 24 percent of people
in the world believed the United States represented the greatest threat to world peace.
Such poll results are not listed among objective criteria advanced by academic sources, international
authorities or NGOs, or any governing bodies as criteria for designation as a pariah state,
and they fly in the face of at least one academic standard put forward by Geldenhuys, that major
world powers by definition cannot be pariah states because they cannot be isolated or
harmed politically or economically, or brought into compliance with international norms by
pariah designations, whether by individuals or international governing bodies.
Subjective designation can also exist on a national level, according to the interests
and values of the designating nation.
If the designating nation is powerful enough, the designation of pariah statehood can become
objective based on the amount of pressure the designating state can apply to gain international
consensus.
Such was the case, according to Lawal, when the United States used its strength within
the Western Bloc to impose pariah status on Fidel Castro's Cuba instead of acting unilaterally
through foreign policy, with no objective need to impose international pariah status.
Lawal explains that the United States' problem with Cuba was geographical more than ideological,
as Cuba was no further from the United States on the political spectrum than the Soviet
Union was at the time, but the Soviets had attempted to establish nuclear missile launch
facilities in Cuba, within 99 miles of the United States coastline.
Objective designation Many schemes have been proposed to apply objective
criteria to the designation of pariah status.
Lawal has summarized four primary categories often used for qualification as pariah states:
1) nations that possess or use weapons of mass destruction in contravention of existing
treaties, 2) nations that support terrorism, 3) nations lacking democracy, and 4) nations
with a record of human rights violations.
To these four criteria, Geldenhuys adds another two: 5) nations that promote radical ideologies
at home or even abroad, and 6) nations that commit acts of military aggression abroad.
In addition to these six categories of state conduct that can result in objective designation
as a pariah state, Geldenhuys suggests a seventh category that might gain international consensus:
nations that are involved in international drug trafficking.
International law can serve as objective criteria.
For example, nations who violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are often sanctioned
for their actions.
Such sanctions can include designation as a pariah state, as has been the approach used
by the United States.
However, international law can fail in this regard, as under the current international
system, most nation states recognize their own legal supremacy over the laws of any international
governing body.
Thus, according to Lawal, consensus under international law can be problematic.
In the case of nuclear arms development, international isolation can have a paradoxical "push effect"
on a pariah state, motivating accelerated development of nuclear weapons.
As of 2012, there was no provision in international law for pariah status.
Common characteristics Geldenhuys has identified four common characteristics
shared by many pariah states that are unrelated to any actions of international deviance that
might have qualified them as pariahs under the various criteria.
The first is that pariah states tend to lack strong identity as a nation.
Geldenhuys cites Iraq as an example.
Iraq is a relatively young nation state with "artificial borders."
Saddam Hussein's ruling Ba'ath party denied that Iraqis formed a nation.
Rather, they maintained that Iraqis were part of a larger Arab nation.
The second characteristic is that, although they are not necessarily small, pariah states
cannot be "regarded as a major power in world terms."
Geldenhuys says that status as a major world power renders a nation "virtually untouchable"
in global politics and in the global economy.
This, according to Geldenhuys, is why China is not a pariah state, despite its "appalling
human rights record."
Certainly there are individuals who disagree with this second characteristic, such as Noam
Chomsky and author-journalist Robert Parry, each of whom has applied his own personal
criteria to describe the United States as a pariah state.
The third characteristic noted by Geldenhuys is that pariah states tend to develop a siege
mentality.
Similar to the "push effect", this siege mentality can motivate pariah states to develop costly
and ambitious arms programs.
Finally, pariah states tend to develop resentments against the West and the kind of world order
that Western powers have maintained.
They may seek to subvert the international status quo.
These characteristics are presented as generalizations, and not intended by the author to apply to
every pariah state.
See also Failed state
Rogue state International isolation
Notes
References