How to fix failed states

EIGHT years ago Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart wrote a book called “Fixing Failed States”. Now Mr Ghani is in a position to follow his own advice. He is the president of Afghanistan, a state that failed in the 1990s and could fail again. State failure causes untold misery (see ). Broadly defined, it is the main reason poor countries are poor. Its chief cause is not geography, climate or culture, but politics. Some countries build benign, efficient institutions that foster economic growth; others build predatory ones that retard it. South Sudan is an extreme example of predation. Its politics consist of warlords fighting over oil money. The warlords also stir up tribal animosity as a tool to recruit more militiamen. The state makes Big Men rich while ordinary folk subsist on food aid.