State Failure

During the 1990s the concept of state failure emerged as part of an attempt to explain and understand the complex, post-Cold War, new world dis-order. State failure achieved prominence, being applied to situations of institutional collapse and mass violence that appeared to herald a new level of international instability. Ungoverned territories hosted criminal networks, narco-barons, and terrorists; they would be sources of threats flowing from environmental degradation and disease. The failed state influenced profoundly international politics in early-21st century. Exploring critically the emergence, evolution and consequences of the state failure concept, Andrew Taylor concludes that despite a superficial plausibility, it lacks sufficient theoretical and empirical rigour to understand the varying phenomena gathered under the heading of state failure. This lack of intellectual depth renders it dangerous as a guide to policy.

Andrew Taylor is Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield, UK. He has published widely on various aspects of British politics, public policy and the nature of the state and governance. His most recent book dealt with the expansion of the European Union into South East Europe. He is currently working on a study of British bordering policy since the late-nineteenth century.