Abstract

This paper examines fragile states from a historical and policy-focused context. It analyses both fragility and the state as complex phenomena with specific history and logic. International debates are introduced, from the ‘failed states’ narrative to more sophisticated frameworks on fragile contexts. Modern state-building is placed in a historical perspective and analysed through a political economy framework, while rents and patronage are explained as standard forms of social organization. Modern state-building and economic development is analysed, together with the impact of colonialism, further exposing the features of fragile states and placing them within the context of the contemporary world economy, making fragility appear as a dysfunctional form of governance.