'The Ideology of Failed States reflects a lifetime of professional engagement with the subject of intervention in weak, war-torn and fragile states. Constructed as an extended critique of the concept of 'state failure', its institutionalisation, and the uses to which the term has been put, mainly by Western governments and Western-dominated institutions, Woodward persuasively and very effectively demonstrates that the ... Read moreconcept of state failure is not only conceptually vague but also empirically thin and politically provocative. She has succeeded in lifting what she describes as the 'veil of self-evidence' that typically surrounds the use of the concept in public discourse and, especially, in policy-making circles.' Mats Berdal, Director of Conflict, Security and Development Research Group (CSDRG), King's College London 'The history of external interventions aimed at 'fixing failed states' is littered with the detritus of repeated failures. In her provocative and persuasively argued new book, political scientist Susan L. Woodward draws on a wealth of empirical research and her own astute observations to skewer the conventional wisdom that has long driven these failures. Her central thesis is that the concept of failed states - a notion whose flaws she authoritatively catalogues - 'is not just a label but an ideology'. Together with its semantic siblings, it spawned both a set of strongly held and unquestioned principles and, most consequentially, a strategic plan of action for putting these principles into practice ... Not content with leaving her inquiry to speak for itself or to append to it a set of anodyne policy recommendations, Woodward concludes with a provocation to both the policy and academic worlds to pursue that most elusive but critical of goals - cumulative learning.' S. Del Rosso, Director, International Peace and Security, Carnegie Corporation of New York 'The Ideology of Failed States is a tour de force. The empirical examples Woodward presents are rich in detail and thoroughly curated.' Marina Henke, H-NET 'In a very impressive follow-up to her work on the former Yugoslavia (Balkan Tragedy ...), Woodward (CUNY Graduate Center) examines a myriad of failed states and finds that the reason intervention fails is not just the internal failures of these states.' S. Majstorovic, Choice 'The Ideology of Failed States reflects a lifetime of professional engagement with the subject of intervention in weak, war-torn and fragile states. Constructed as an extended critique of the concept of 'state failure', its institutionalisation, and the uses to which the term has been put, mainly by Western governments and Western-dominated institutions, Woodward persuasively and very effectively demonstrates that the concept of state failure is not only conceptually vague but also empirically thin and politically provocative. She has succeeded in lifting what she describes as the 'veil of self-evidence' that typically surrounds the use of the concept in public discourse and, especially, in policy-making circles.' Mats Berdal, Director of Conflict, Security and Development Research Group (CSDRG), King's College London 'The history of external interventions aimed at 'fixing failed states' is littered with the detritus of repeated failures. In her provocative and persuasively argued new book, political scientist Susan L. Woodward draws on a wealth of empirical research and her own astute observations to skewer the conventional wisdom that has long driven these failures. Her central thesis is that the concept of failed states - a notion whose flaws she authoritatively catalogues - 'is not just a label but an ideology'. Together with its semantic siblings, it spawned both a set of strongly held and unquestioned principles and, most consequentially, a strategic plan of action for putting these principles into practice ... Not content with leaving her inquiry to speak for itself or to append to it a set of anodyne policy recommendations, Woodward concludes with a provocation to both the policy and academic worlds to pursue that most elusive but critical of goals - cumulative learning.' S. Del Rosso, Director, International Peace and Security, Carnegie Corporation of New York 'The Ideology of Failed States is a tour de force. The empirical examples Woodward presents are rich in detail and thoroughly curated.' Marina Henke, H-NET `In a very impressive follow-up to her work on the former Yugoslavia (Balkan Tragedy ...), Woodward (CUNY Graduate Center) examines a myriad of failed states and finds that the reason intervention fails is not just the internal failures of these states.' S. Majstorovic, Choice Show Less