Abstract: When States Fail starts with the assumption that the rise and fall of nation-states is not new, but in the modern era when nation-states constitute the building blocks of the world order, the violent disintegration of select African, Asian, and Latin American states threatens the very foundation of that system. Divided into two parts – “The Causes and Prevention of Failure” and “Post-Failure Resuscitation of Nation-States” – the book explores the nature of failure and collapse among the developing world’s nation-states, and examines how such faltering or destroyed states may be resuscitated. In addition, the volume analyses the nature of state weakness, and advances reasons why some weak states succumb to failure, or collapse, and why others, in seemingly more strained circumstances, remain weak and at risk but do not destruct...
