Preventing nation states from failing, and reviving those that do fail, has become a strategic, as well as moral, imperative. The introduction to this innovative book develops a theory of state failure and subsequent chapters illustrate the state failure paradigm by examining cases from around the world.

"Robert I. Rotberg is director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict, Conflict Prevention, and Conflict Resolution at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and president of the World Peace Foundation. Rotberg is the author or editor of numerous books, including State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of Terror (Brookings/WPF, 2003)."