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Fixing failed states: a framework for rebuilding a fractured world
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2008
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Regime AnalysisFractured WorldFailed State StudiesIt Disaster RecoveryNew SolutionAbsolute PovertySocial SciencesCommunity ResilienceDiplomacyState FailureInternational PoliticsGeopoliticsGlobal GovernancePublic PolicySocietal FragilityInternational RelationsWorld PoliticsGlobal ChallengeBusinessSixty NationsGlobal PoliticsInternational OrganizationCrisis ManagementDisaster Risk ReductionPolitical Science
Today, between forty and sixty nations—home to more than one billion people—have collapsed or teeter on the brink of failure, spawning terrorism, drugs, trafficking, poverty, conflict, disease, and genocide, and despite billions of dollars spent, global efforts have largely failed, with figures like Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart having long sought to save such states. The authors aim to present a groundbreaking solution to the failure of past interventions by vividly illustrating why previous efforts failed and proposing a new framework, with a paperback preface addressing ongoing crises. Their state‑building strategy assigns equal responsibility to the international community, national leaders, and citizens, mapping a clear path to political and economic stability, and provides a practical framework supported by first‑hand examples from Afghanistan, Sudan, Kosovo, Nepal, Singapore, Ireland, and the American South. The authors demonstrate that their framework can guide struggling territories toward stability, as illustrated by case studies of Afghanistan, Sudan, Kosovo, Nepal, Singapore, Ireland, and the American South.
Today between forty and sixty nations, home to more than one billion people, have either collapsed or are teetering on the brink of failure. The world's worst problems-terrorism, drugs and human trafficking, absolute poverty, ethnic conflict, disease, genocide-originate in such states, and the international community has devoted billions of dollars to solving the problem. Yet by and large the effort has not succeeded. Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart have taken an active part in the effort to save failed states for many years, serving as World Bank officials, as advisers to the UN, and as high-level participants in the new government of Afghanistan. In Fixing Failed States, they describe the issue-vividly and convincingly-offering an on-the-ground picture of why past efforts have not worked and advancing a groundbreaking new solution to this most pressing of global crises. For the paperback edition, they have added a new preface that addresses the continuing crisis in light of ongoing governance problems in weak states like Afghanistan and the global financial recession. As they explain, many of these countries already have the resources they need, if only we knew how to connect them to global knowledge and put them to work in the right way. Their state-building strategy, which assigns responsibility equally among the international community, national leaders, and citizens, maps out a clear path to political and economic stability. The authors provide a practical framework for achieving these ends, supporting their case with first-hand examples of struggling territories such as Afghanistan, Sudan, Kosovo and Nepal as well as the world's success stories-Singapore, Ireland, and even the American South.