Armed Violence in Fragile States: Low-Intensity Conflicts,Spillover Conflicts, and Sporadic Law Enforcement Operations by Third Parties

The gradual process of state failure is commonly accompanied by armed violence.
Apart from occasional outbreaks, armed violence in fragile states tends to smoulder
with relatively low intensity, often over an extended period of time. The actual level of
violence may oscillate around the level of violence that is commonly accepted as
triggering the application of international humanitarian law (IHL). In addition,
because of the specific objectives typically – though not necessarily always – pursued by
armed groups in failed state conflict scenarios, cross-border spillover effects are fairly
frequent. The qualification of armed violence in such scenarios according to the conflict
categories laid down in IHL thus raises some rather specific issues. Moreover, weak
states, failing states, and ultimately failed states are increasingly perceived as a key
threat to international security. States seem increasingly inclined to assume sporadic
order maintenance functions in the place of disabled governments so as to maintain
the perceived security threat at a tolerable level. Current efforts to repress acts of piracy
off the coast of Somalia are an evident case in point. Since the Security Council, in
Resolution 1851, at least implied the possibility of applying IHL in that specific context, the application of this legal regime to sporadic law enforcement operations by
third parties also demands further scrutiny