Failed States and Failing States: The Experience of Africa (Cornell Institute for African Development)

State collapse is one of the major threats to peace, stability, and economic development in Sub-Sahara Africa today. In a collapsed state the regime finally wears out its ability to satisfy the demands of the various groups in society, fails to govern and to keep the state together. The collapse is marked by the loss of control over political and economic space. A collapsed state can no longer perform its basic security and development functions and has no effective control over its territory and borders. Major challenges confront efforts to avoid collapsed states drawing other countries into a wider conflict and to create structures and favorable conditions to lead to national reconciliation and the reconstruction of a state that has collapsed. The Cornell Institute for African Development called a symposium entitled 'Failed and failing states in Africa: lessons from Darfur and beyond' to address these critical issues at the Institute for African Development, Cornell University April 18-19, 2008. Key contributions at the symposium are brought together in this volume. Taken together these essays represent a significant discussion on the challenges presented by the presence of failed and failing states within Africa.