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Fragile States

Project Members: Hany Besada

Fragile and failed states present one of the preeminent threats to global peace and security. In this era of globalization, conflict and instability can easily cross borders. The September 11th terrorist attacks tragically demonstrated how even the weakest states in the world can pose a direct threat to the strongest. This phenomenon of state fragility and its global implications are the focus of this project. The project has three goals: 1) to define the characteristics of fragile states by identifying and analyzing various indicators of state fragility; 2) to outline the profound and multifaceted risks and challenges this phenomenon poses to the international community; and 3) to examine existing strategies to stabilize and reconstruct states, delineating the roles that different international actors can play in state-building processes.

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