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Rogue state is a term applied by some international theorists to states considered threatening to the world's peace. This means meeting certain criteria such as being ruled by authoritarian regimes severely restricting human rights, accused of sponsoring terrorism, and seeking to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.
As the U.S. government remains the most active proponent of the "rogue state" expression, the term has received much criticism from those who disagree with U.S. foreign policy. 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. Some others, such as author William Blum, have written that the term is applicable to the U.S. itself.
In the last six months of the Clinton administration, the term "rogue state" was temporarily replaced with the term "state of concern," however, the Bush administration has returned to the earlier term. The U.S. government perceives the threat posed by these states as justifying its foreign policy and military initiatives, as in the case of anti-ballistic missile programs, which are held to be grounded in the concern that these states will not be deterred by the certainty of retaliation.
In late 1990s U.S. officials considered as "rogue states" North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Libya. The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan removed the country from the list, and Iraq followed suit after the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Libya achieved success through diplomacy and now is also not considered in the list. The concept of "rogue states" was replaced by the Bush administration by the "Axis of Evil" concept (gathering Iraq, Iran and North Korea). US President George W. Bush first spoke of this "Axis of Evil" during his January 2002 State of the Union Address. Both concepts (rogue states and "Axis of Evil") have been criticized by certain scholars, including philosopher Jacques Derrida and intellectual Noam Chomsky, who considered it more or less a theoretical form of imperialism and a useful word for propaganda.
Bibliography
- Chomsky, Noam, Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs ISBN 0896086119
- Derrida, Jacques, Rogues: Two Essays on Reason 2005 ISBN 0804749507 (trans. Brault and Naas)
External links
- Information Portal focusing on "rogue" states (Country Profiles, News)
- Prevent Our Enemies from Threatening Us, Our Allies, and Our Friends with Weapons of Mass Destruction - Official White House statement.
- Global Rogue State - Article by Edward S. Herman which argues that the U.S. is a rogue state.
- "Rogue States A Handy Label, But a Lousy Policy" The Washington Post, 2000, by Robert S. Litwak (use 'search' to find the article on the huge page)