State building : governance and world order in the 21st century

Weak or failed states are the source of many of the world's most senous and intractable problems and are the main threat to our security today. In tackling these issues, Francis Fukuyama identifies a new solution: state-building.

Building and strengthening states is a massive task: the process must be invented anew for every country. In this hugely important book, Fukuyama examines the concept of state building and discusses the problems caused by state weakness and its national and international effects From Afghanistan and Iraq, to Sudan and the Congo, he traces what we know- and more often don't know - about how to cater functioning public institutions in ways that will leave sorching of permanent benefit. A new preface puts his arguments into the context of the continuing crisis in Iraq. He examines the consequences of weak states for the international order, and the grounds on which the international community may legitimately intervene to prop them up.