Fragility, Instability, and the Failure of States
Report from Center for Preventive Action
Report from Center for Preventive Action

Fragility, Instability, and the Failure of States

Assessing Sources of Systemic Risk

Report by Monty G. Marshall

October 2008 , 28 Pages

Download PDF
Report

More on:

Conflict Prevention

Overview

This Center for Preventive Action Working Paper surveys existing approaches to assessing state fragility and failure within the context of development, conflict, and governance. It examines the risk factors that have been identified through systematic inquiry and research with the goal of improving the prospects for successful conflict prevention and management, and argues that the goal of "early warning" relating to state fragility and failure should be more to inform and temper our expectations for policy response than to trigger costly and risky interventions.

Monty G. Marshall

Download the appendix for this report [PDF].

More on:

Conflict Prevention

Explore More on Conflict Prevention

United Kingdom

Moving Past the Troubles: The Future of Northern Ireland Peace
The Good Friday Agreement has dampened sectarian conflict and brought stability to Northern Ireland, but the peace deal has been challenged by Brexit-related border tensions that have thrown the region’s hard-won gains into doubt.

Backgrounder by Charles Landow and James McBride February 16, 2024

Nigeria

Nigeria Security Tracker
The Council on Foreign Relations' Nigeria Security Tracker was an effort to catalog and map political violence based on a weekly survey of Nigerian and international press. The last update to the tracker was July 1, 2023. The data presented included violent incidents related to political, economic, and social grievances directed at the state or other affiliated groups (or, conversely, the state employing violence to respond to those incidents.)

Tracker by Michelle Gavin July 1, 2023 Africa Program

Western Sahara

Five Questions on the Western Sahara Peace Process
The following interview is with Fatma El Mehdi, one of eight negotiators in the Western Sahara peace process and a leader in the Sahrawi community.

Blog Post by Elena Ortiz July 20, 2021 Women Around the World

Top Stories on CFR

 

What the Pager Explosions in Lebanon Mean for Israel-Hezbollah Tensions Link

Play

via YouTube September 18, 2024

Russia

The Russia Challenge, With Liana Fix and Thomas Graham (Election 2024, Episode 1)

Podcast
Liana Fix, a fellow for Europe at CFR, and Thomas Graham, a distinguished fellow at CFR, sit down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the future of U.S. policy toward Russia and the risks posed by heightened tensions between two nuclear powers. This episode is the first in a special TPI series on the U.S. 2024 presidential election and is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Podcast with James M. Lindsay, Liana Fix and Thomas Graham September 17, 2024 The President’s Inbox

Terrorism and Counterterrorism

Preventing U.S. Election Violence in 2024

Violence around U.S. elections in 2024 could not only destabilize American democracy but also embolden autocrats across the world. Jacob Ware recommends that political leaders take steps to shore up civic trust and remove the opportunity for violence ahead of the 2024 election season.

Contingency Planning Memorandum by Jacob Ware April 17, 2024 Center for Preventive Action