Main content

What Makes A Pariah State?

Saudi Arabia’s recent behaviour has prompted calls to brand the kingdom a pariah nation. What does that label really mean and what does a state have to do to warrant it?

There are different routes to pariah status. North Korea, with its gross human rights abuses and illicit nuclear weapons programme tops the list and represents the classic pariah - completely ostracized from the international system. Another sure-fire way to become a pariah is to sponsor international terrorism, like Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya in the 20th century. But as his example shows, international rehabilitation can happen almost overnight. Then there are less clear cut pariahs like Zimbabwe, condemned by the West but very much part of the regional African system.

Four expert witnesses examine these cases and explore whether the notion of a pariah state is meaningful in the 21st century multi-polar world.

Presenter: Kavita Puri
Producer: Lucy Proctor

(Photo: Ostracized /Getty Images)

Available now

23 minutes

Last on

Mon 19 Nov 2018 09:06GMT

Clip

Broadcasts

  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 03:06GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 06:06GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 07:06GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 14:06GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 15:06GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 18:06GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 20:06GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 21:06GMT
  • Sat 17 Nov 2018 17:06GMT
  • Mon 19 Nov 2018 09:06GMT

Podcast