state fragility; failed states; sovereignty; governance

This encyclopedia entry examines the concepts of state fragility and failure, exploring how states lacking internal sovereignty struggle to provide basic governance, security, and public services. It outlines key definitions, typologies (e.g. by Rotberg, Call, Gros), and measurement tools such as the Fragile States Index, while also addressing critiques of the failed state paradigm as Western-centric and analytically imprecise. The entry highlights the implications of fragile states for international security, development, and humanitarian crises, and discusses policy responses and the evolution of research on weak statehood since the 1960s.

This encyclopedia entry examines the concepts of state fragility and failure, exploring how states lacking internal sovereignty struggle to provide basic governance, security, and public services. It outlines key definitions, typologies (e.g. by Rotberg, Call, Gros), and measurement tools such as the Fragile States Index, while also addressing critiques of the failed state paradigm as Western-centric and analytically imprecise. The entry highlights the implications of fragile states for international security, development, and humanitarian crises, and discusses policy responses and the evolution of research on weak statehood since the 1960s.