The myth of international order: why weak states persist and alternatives to the state fade away

This ambitious text takes on a fundamental political puzzle: most states in the international system are 'weak' states, states unable to monopolize violence or provide public goods, and yet the nation-state remains the primary organizational form for world politics. In addressing this, Arjun Chowdhury shows why states everywhere face popular dissatisfaction with their performance, and why addressing this dissatisfaction - through institutional alternatives to the state like the European Union, or through higher taxation - is so difficult

This ambitious book takes on a fundamental political puzzle: most states in the international system are 'weak' states, states unable to monopolize violence or provide public goods, and yet the nation-state remains the primary organizational form for world politics. In addressing this, Arjun Chowdhury shows why states everywhere face popular dissatisfaction with their performance, and why addressing this dissatisfaction - through institutional alternatives to the state like the European Union, or through higher taxation - is so difficult.