A failed state is a state that has lost its ability to fulfill fundamental security and development functions, lacking effective control over its territory and borders. Common characteristics of a failed state include a government incapable of tax collection, law enforcement, security assurance, territorial control, political or civil office staffing, and infrastructure maintenance. When this happens, widespread corruption and criminality, the intervention of state and non-state actors, the appearance of refugees and the involuntary movement of populations, sharp economic decline, and military intervention from both within and outside the state are much more likely to occur.
Originating in the 1990s, the term was initially applied to characterize the situation in Somalia. The country descended into disorder following a coup that ousted its dictator, Siad Barre, in 1991, leading to internal conflicts among the country's clans. In the early 2020s, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen have all been described as failed states. There are concerns that Lebanon and South Africa may also be on the path to becoming failed states in the near future.
Various metrics have been developed to describe the level of governance of states, with significant variation among authorities regarding the specific level of government control needed to consider a state as failed. In 2023, the Fund for Peace, a think tank, identified twelve countries in its most susceptible categories on the Fragile States Index. Formally designating a state as "failed" can be a controversial decision with significant geopolitical implications.
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