Following 9/11, the problem of failed and fragile states took on a new political significance. Once considered to be simply a humanitarian concern, the problem of fragile and failed states is now considered to be one of the most pressing security issues in contemporary politics. Despite the heightened visibility of the issue as well as a growing body of accumulated knowledge and experience in the area significant questions remain over how best to build effective states.
This course will survey the literature on state-building and failure with a particular emphasis on the developing world and aims to equip students with practical theoretical and empirical knowledge that will help them to confront issues in the real world. The course will deal with the following kinds of questions: what insights can we draw from historical experiences with state formation that might help us deal with the problems of failed and fragile states today? Does state failure take one form or multiple forms? How can the problems of weak, fragile, and failed states be corrected? How do contemporary approaches to international intervention in failed states differ, and what lessons can we draw from them?
The course will draw on a wide-ranging literature to address the issues, discussion and consideration of numerous different cases, and the insights of practitioners who will be invited to discuss their experiences in the field with us.
