State collapse in such places as Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yugoslavia has led to widespread human suffering, regional instability, and transnational threats of organised crime and international terrorism. This collection situates state failure and collapse against the backdrop of the emergence, consolidation, expansion, and erosion of the Western state system. The contributors examine why and how states collapse through case studies of countries including Nigeria, Georgia, and Afghanistan, and through analyses of warlordism, conflict goods, and small arms and light weapons proliferation. Humanitarian and post-conflict reconstruction efforts in such places as East Timor, Cambodia, Somalia and Bosnia are also analysed and critiqued. The volume, which brings together some of the foremost scholars working on state collapse, will be of interest to both scholars and practitioners.