Theoretical Approaches to the Fragility of States: Proposal for a Comprehensive Model from Political Legitimacy in Statehood Construct

Abstract

In the academic agenda and in international organizations, the strength or fragility of states is a relevant thematic, especially in light of geopolitical changes and security issues in recent decades. While the concept of state refers to the methods of control that a government employs to manage a given territory, which refers to regimes and forms of government, the fragility of states, as well as concerns of the international community motivated by incapacities, generates a loss of legitimacy internal politics, leading to possible regional collapses and instabilities, the capacity for action is then seen as linked to political legitimacy, which is nourished by the confidence conferred on the internal and external levels. In this context, this work seeks to articulate some theoretical propositions in an attempt to broaden the view on the phenomenon of statehood and its relations with political legitimacy, such propositions are then guiding to a comprehensive model at the end of the article. In this sense, this essay presents as a general proposition: Political Legitimacy, constituent of Statehood, in its relations with regimes and forms of government, and with the trust attributed to political actions, is an intervening factor in Fragility manifest in the States.