Chapter 13

What is the key defining element in the notion of state collapse?
How do state collapse and civil conflict relate to one another?
What kinds of developments may lead to the collapse of state structures?
What connections can be identified between processes of state collapse and state formation?
Why has there appeared to be an increase of the incidence of state collapse in the post- cold war era?
What role do international actors and the international community tend to play vis-à-vis collapsed states?
What are the pitfalls of generalizing about the causes of and external responses to instances of state collapse?
Should the international community try to prevent a state from collapsing when bitter inter-communal violence within the country is the principal cause?
Does the experience of relatively new states like Eritrea and Timor-Leste offer lessons in how to build states without incurring the risk of failure?
Is the idea of state failure analytically useful when there are so many different versions of what failure can mean and why it happens?
Is Iraq now a failed state?
How does the proliferation of new states impact on the structure of global politics?
'A failing state lacks legitimacy whereas a weak state simply lacks power. The two categories are not only different but there may be no practical connection between them'. Discuss.
Could increasing environmental scarcity and violent conflict over natural resources increase the likelihood of state failure and state collapse in some developing world regions?
What is the difference between a 'failed' state and a 'collapsed' state? Illustrate your answer with examples from the developing world.
'Democratization is no panacea for the collapsing state' (Ottaway). Discuss.
What is 'conflict trade' and what part can it play in state collapse?

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Oxford University Press, Online Resource Centre, Chapter 13.

Chapter 13