Rogue State

Nation that rejects international law and the conventions of the international community. Rogue states are feared and condemned in the international community (or, at least, other states feel uneasy about their leadership) because they reject international accountability. Their decision-making behavior does not follow traditional, recognized patterns, and it is hard to predict what they will do.

Characteristics of a Rogue State

Numerous behaviors lead the international community to categorize a nation as a rogue state. Some of these pertain to a nation's treatment of its own people, whereas others pertain to its relations with other nations. Often, a combination of both domestic and international outrages can lead to a nation's appellation as a rogue state.

Nations that flagrantly commit human rights abuses against their own citizens or maintain repressive ideologies while ignoring the condemnation of the international community are classified as rogue states. For example, when South Africa was under white minority rule it ignored decades of United Nations Security Council resolutions and international sanctions aimed at its apartheid policies. Under Fidel Castro, Cuba continues to deny its citizens the kinds of rights guaranteed under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Other rogue states include North Korea, in which Kim Jong Il (and his father before him) has reduced the nation to extreme poverty while building up an offensive military-industrial complex. Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq was criticized for gassing its Kurdish population and for torturing its citizens. The Taliban government in Afghanistan was criticized for its authoritarianism, in particular its oppressive gender policies, restrictions of free press, and human rights violations.

The Iranian government under the leadership of its fundamentalist Islamic mullahs continues to face similar criticisms. So, too, does the government of Sudan, which in recent years tacitly or overtly supported the displacement and extermination of hundreds of thousands of its black citizens by paramilitary groups loyal to the government.

Although the states mentioned here are often classified as rogue states, other nations engaged in similar activities or abuses might not be classified the same way. This may be the result of political sympathies or because those nations are in the process of attempting to improve freedoms for their citizens.

Numerous kinds of offenses against the international community render a nation a rogue state. Nations that deliberately or illegitimately harm their neighbors; nations that deliberately and consistently flout [Page 634]international law, conventions and norms; and nations that persist in acting unilaterally, without the support of the community of nations, are called rogue states. An example of international harm was the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Violations of international law and conventions by rogue states are numerous. The United States feels significant threat from such nations, particularly those that are state sponsors of terrorism or provide support to terrorists. For example, Afghanistan under the Taliban government refused to surrender the perpetrators of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Rogue states can be havens for anti-West terrorist organizations as well; rogue governments have usually declared some form of opposition to the West and are unlikely to examine terror activities too closely.

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