Rogue state

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For the 2000 book by William Blum, see Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower.
  • States currently considered "Rogue States" by the United States:
  1. Flag of Iran Iran
  2. Flag of North Korea North Korea
  • States formerly considered "Rogue States" by the United States:
  1. Flag of Pakistan Pakistan
  2. Flag of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
  3. Flag of Iraq Iraq
  4. Flag of Libya Libya

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 that severely restrict human rights, sponsor terrorism, and seek to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.

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 1980s U.S. officials considered North Korea, Pakistan[citation needed], Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Libya as "rogue states". The U.S.-Pakistani alliance following the 9/11 terrorist attacks removed Pakistan from the list. 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 with the "Axis of Evil" concept (gathering Iraq, Iran, and North Korea). U.S. President George W. Bush first spoke of this "Axis of Evil" during his January 2002 State of the Union Address.

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 point to the double standards over Pakistan which blatantly breaches nuclear non-proliferation protocols by exporting nuclear weapons technology, yet is no longer considered to be a "rogue state" by the U.S., as the Bush administration regard it as an ally in the War On Terror. [1] [2] Some others, such as author William Blum, have written that the term is applicable to the U.S. and Israel. Both the concepts of rogue states and the "Axis of Evil" have been criticized by certain scholars, including philosopher Jacques Derrida and linguist Noam Chomsky, who considered it more or less a justification of imperialism and a useful word for propaganda.

A common thread between rogue states is that they don't allow their central banks to be owned by international bankers. After the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, central banks have been re-installed (Afghanistan 2002; Iraq 2003). Rogue states can also be differentiated from 'pariah states' such as Burma-Myanmar, Sudan, Syria and Zimbabwe who considerably abuse the human rights of their populations whilst not considered a tangiable threat beyond their own borders, although the terms have been used interchangeably.

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Critical of the "Rogue State" concept:

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