Maybe it was in the 1990s and the chaos of Somalia when the notion of “failed-states” made its way into the headlines. Somalia’s public institutions collapsed under the turmoil of corruption and warlords competing for turf and power. Any semblance of social justice withered under the horrors of civil conflict and exploitation. The criteria associated with failing or failed states and their societies are pertinent to extreme situations like Somalia. If we apply these same criteria to more stable governments and societies, these societies look positively healthy. Yet, this glosses over situations where we discover that certain citizens or groups are oppressed and marginalized. For example, LBGTQI persons in Russia or Weigers in China are oppressed by the state. There are also stable, democratic, and wealthy societies where groups of people are marginalized and treated with disdain. One can point to the Turks in Germany, Muslims in France, Palestinians in Israel, African Americans in the United States, and untouchables in India as illustrations. If we turn to the history of the United States we encounter not only ethnic cleansing of Native peoples and slavery, but also exploitation of Chinese immigrants in building railroads, expropriation of lands (e.g., Cuba, Central America, Philippines) and exploitation of their people, concentration camps during WWII, and the targeting of people of color vis-à-vis incarceration. This list is not exhaustive, but the point is…
