Social science.

Contests to reorganize the international system after the Cold War agree on the security threat of failed states: this book asks why.

The threat of terror, which flares in Africa and Indonesia, has given the problem of failed states an unprecedented immediacy and importance. In the past, failure had a primarily humanitarian dimension, with fewer implications for peace and security. Now nation-states that fail, or may do so, pose dangers to themselves, to their neighbors, and to people around the globe: preventing their failure, and reviving those that do fail, has become a strategic as well as a moral imperative. State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of Terror develops an innovative theory of state failure that classifies and categorizes states along a continuum from weak to failed to collapsed. By understanding the mechanisms and identifying the tell-tale indicators of state failure, it is possible to develop strategies to arrest the fatal slide from weakness to collapse. This state failure paradigm is illustrated through detailed case studies of states that have failed and collapsed (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, the Sudan, Somalia), states that are dangerously weak (Colombia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan), and states that are weak but safe (Fiji, Haiti, Lebanon).

* Mexico was named an Outstanding Academic Title of 2010 by Choice Magazine.Bloodshed connected with Mexican drug cartels, how they emerged, and their impact on the United States is the subject of this frightening book. Savage narcotics-related decapitations, castrations, and other murders have destroyed tourism in many Mexican communities and such savagery is now cascading across the border into the United States. Grayson explores how this spiral of violence emerged in Mexico, its impact on the country and its northern neighbor, and the prospects for managing it.Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ruled in Tammany Hall fashion for seventy-nine years before losing the presidency in 2000 to the center-right National Action Party (PAN). Grayson focuses on drug wars, prohibition, corruption, and other antecedents that occurred during the PRI's hegemony. He illuminates the diaspora of drug cartels and their fragmentation, analyzes the emergence of new gangs, sets forth President Felipe Calderi?1/2n's strategy against vicious criminal organizations, and assesses its relative success. Grayson reviews the effect of narcotics-focused issues in U.S.-Mexican relations. He considers the possibility that Mexico may become a failed state, as feared by opinion-leaders, even as it pursues an aggressive but thus far unsuccessful crusade against the importation, processing, and sale of illegal substances.Becoming a failed state involves two dimensions of state power: its scope, or the different functions and goals taken on by governments, and its strength, or the government's ability to plan and execute policies. The Mexican state boasts an extensive scope evidenced by its monopoly over the petroleum industry, its role as the major supplier of electricity, its financing of public education, its numerous retirement and health-care programs, its control of public universities, and its dominance

The world's foremost critic of U.S. foreign policy exposes the hollow promises of democracy in American actions abroad—and at home The United States has repeatedly asserted its right to intervene against "failed states" around the globe. In this much anticipated sequel to his international bestseller Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky turns the tables, charging the United States with being a "failed state," and thus a danger to its own people and the world. "Failed states" Chomsky writes, are those "that do not protect their citizens from violence and perhaps even destruction, that regard themselves as beyond the reach of domestic or international law, and that suffer from a ‘democratic deficit,' having democratic forms but with limited substance." Exploring recent U.S. foreign and domestic policies, Chomsky assesses Washington's escalation of the nuclear risk; the dangerous consequences of the occupation of Iraq; and America's self-exemption from international law. He also examines an American electoral system that frustrates genuine political alternatives, thus impeding any meaningful democracy. Forceful, lucid, and meticulously documented, Failed States offers a comprehensive analysis of a global superpower that has long claimed the right to reshape other nations while its own democratic institutions are in severe crisis, and its policies and practices have recklessly placed the world on the brink of disaster. Systematically dismantling America's claim to being the world's arbiter of democracy, Failed States is Chomsky's most focused—and urgent—critique to date.

Shines a light on the dark corners of New York’s legislature and points the way to much-needed reform. Failed State is both an original account of a state legislature in urgent need of reform and a call to action for those who would fix it. Drawing on his experiences both in and out of state government, former New York State senator Seymour P. Lachman reveals and explores Albany’s hush-hush, top-down processes, illuminating the hidden, secretive corners where the state assembly and state senate conduct the people’s business and spend public money. Part memoir and part exposé, Failed State is a revision of and follow-up to Three Men in a Room, published in 2006. The focus of the original book was the injury to democratic governance that arises when three individuals—governor, senate majority leader, and assembly speaker—tightly control one of the country’s largest and most powerful state governments. Expanding on events that have occurred in the decade since the original book’s publication, Failed State shows how this scenario has given way to widespread corruption, among them the convictions of two men in the room—the senate and assembly leaders—as well as a number of other state lawmakers. All chapters have been revised and expanded, new chapters have been added, and the final chapter charts a path to durable reform that would change New York’s state government from its present-day status as a national disgrace to a model of transparent, more effective state politics and governance. “Three Men in a Room was an important book when it came out over a decade ago, and sadly little has changed since then. In the context of high-level corruption convictions and the ongoing investigations by the US attorney’s office, Failed State reminds us just how much needs to be done, and offers constructive recommendations about the kind of reform we so desperately need in Albany.” — Senator Liz Krueger, 28th New York State Senate District “We’ve all heard that Albany’s a mess, that there’s too much bad politics and sometimes corruption in the legislature. It’s all true. How can that be? Are there any voices crying out ‘to do it right’? Seymour Lachman’s Failed State takes you on a personal journey that explains how and why it can be that bad, as he discovers exactly what a lonely voice trying ‘to do it right’ can do—and what it can’t. This is a ‘read it and weep’ book by a principled man who was a legislator for close to a decade. But better than weeping, read it—and do something.” — Peter C. Goldmark Jr., former New York State Budget Director and President of the Rockefeller Foundation “In Failed State Seymour Lachman provides a bird’s-eye view into how New York’s state legislature works—and doesn’t work. Coupled with his extensive historical review, as a former legislator Lachman offers deep insights into what’s wrong with Albany and helps make the case for fundamental changes. His sweeping analysis lays a foundation to make New York government more responsive to the public it purports to serve. For all New Yorkers looking to better understand their state government, Failed State is a must read.” — Blair Horner, Executive Director, New York Public Interest Research Group “Seymour Lachman writes about Albany dysfunction as only an insider can. He knows firsthand what it is to be bullied and extorted by political bosses, to have to cast votes on massive, secretly negotiated budget deals on a few hours’ notice, to be the target of nakedly partisan gerrymandering, and to watch a parade of his colleagues go to prison for corruption. Failed State vividly documents a sordid era of New York history and provides a practical guide to real reform.” — Bill Hammond, The Empire Center “The unifying theme here is that New York State government is broken and is not likely to mend itself. Lachman proposes a number of reforms that he believes will restore democracy—among them, the holding of a constitutional convention, which New Yorkers will vote on in November 2017. Timely and valuable, Failed State will help voters understand what the stakes are when making that decision.” — Peter J. Galie, coeditor of New York’s Broken Constitution: The Governance Crisis and the Path to Renewed Greatness Praise for Three Men in a Room “Startling: a political book that actually informs the public.” — Jimmy Breslin “Three Men in a Room is a perceptive account of a state legislature in urgent need of reform, and of how to accomplish it. Senator Lachman had a front-row seat in Albany, as I once did. He also brings years of academic experience to this compelling and important book. Read it and take it seriously—for democracy’s sake.” — Hugh L. Carey, New York State Governor (1975–1983) “Required reading for any New Yorker who wants to understand what’s gone wrong in Albany—and why. This book provides an invaluable dissection of Albany’s dysfunction from the perspective of an idealistic insider who emerged from the experience with his principles and credibility intact.” — Edmund J. McMahon Jr., Director, Empire Center for New York State Policy “Both edifying and horrifying: Lachman’s privileged perspective on New York’s legislative practices is essential reading for would-be reformers.” — Artvoice

A Philip K. Dick Award Nominee "The novel is as tense and thrilling as any of Brown's work, and as full of rage and hope. It's a novel that truly reckons with the enormity of both our climate emergency and the system that produced it - a tale of human imperfection and redemption." -- Cory Doctorow, bestselling author of Walkaway In this second dystopian legal thriller from the author of the acclaimed Rule of Capture and Tropic of Kansas, lawyer Donny Kimoe juggles two intertwined cases whose outcomes will determine the course of America’s future—and his own. In the aftermath of a second American revolution, peace rests on a fragile truce. The old regime has been deposed, but the ex-president has vanished, escaping justice for his crimes. Some believe he is dead. Others fear he is in hiding, gathering forces. As the factions in Washington work to restore order, Donny Kimoe is in court to settle old scores—and pay his own debts come due. Meanwhile, the rebels Donny once defended are exacting their own kind of justice. In the ruins of New Orleans, they are building a green utopia—and kidnapping their defeated adversaries to pay for it. The newest hostage is the young heiress to a fortune made from plundering the country—and the daughter of one of Donny’s oldest friends. In a desperate gambit to save his own skin, Donny switches sides to defend her before the show trial. If he fails, so will the truce, dragging the country back into violence. But by taking the case, he risks his last chance to expose the atrocities of the dictatorship—and being tried for his own crimes against the revolution. To save the future, Donny has to gamble his own. The only way out is to find the evidence that will get both sides back to the table, and secure a more lasting peace. To do that, Donny must betray his clients’ secrets. Including one explosive secret hidden in the ruins, the discovery of which could extinguish the last hope for a better tomorrow—or, if Donny plays it right, keep it burning.