When States Fail: Causes and Consequences

by Robert I. Rotberg (Editor)

Since 1990, more than 10 million people have been killed in the civil wars of failed states, and hundreds of millions more have been deprived of fundamental rights. The threat of terrorism has only heightened the problem posed by failed states. When States Fail is the first book to examine how and why states decay and what, if anything, can be done to prevent them from collapsing. It defines and categorizes strong, weak, failing, and collapsed nation-states according to political, social, and economic criteria. And it offers a comprehensive recipe for their reconstruction.


The book comprises fourteen essays by leading scholars and practitioners who help structure this disparate field of research, provide useful empirical descriptions, and offer policy recommendations. Robert Rotberg's substantial opening chapter sets out a theory and taxonomy of state failure. It is followed by two sets of chapters, the first on the nature and correlates of failure, the second on methods of preventing state failure and reconstructing those states that do fail. Economic jump-starting, legal refurbishing, elections, the demobilizing of ex-combatants, and civil society are among the many topics discussed.


All of the essays are previously unpublished. In addition to Rotberg, the contributors include David Carment, Christopher Clapham, Nat J. Colletta, Jeffrey Herbst, Nelson Kasfir, Michael T. Klare, Markus Kostner, Terrence Lyons, Jens Meierhenrich, Daniel N. Posner, Susan Rose-Ackerman, Donald R. Snodgrass, Nicolas van de Walle, Jennifer A. Widner, and Ingo Wiederhofer.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Academic

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 24, 2003

About the author

Robert Irwin Rotberg is an American academic who served as President of the World Peace Foundation (1993–2010). A professor in governance and foreign affairs, he was director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict, Conflict Prevention, and Conflict Resolution at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government (1999–2010), and has served in administrative positions at Tufts University and Lafayette College.

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wanted to rate this 3.5, but I bumped it up to 4 because of a couple of insightful chapters. It's an introductory work; I think my expectations were too high.

[Filippa LA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started originally to read it for a project, but got waaaaaaay too interested to put it down. Read the whole thing. Et voilá.
Such interesting take on failed states, and how accurate!

[Ka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes a highly important contribution to a fast rising and key field within the realm of Political Science and international security. Although the main focus remains on underdeveloped states, there are lessons here too for developed states, particularly on the issues of accountability and transparency. The contributions deal not only with the reasons for why states fail, but also provide recommendations for its prevention along with the difficult post-collapse path to recovery. The numerous references to facts and figures of different states also help to underline the points made by the authors.