Overview

When states die, there are massive consequences. Somalia's death in 1991 created a safe haven for criminal non-state actors and has unsettled the Horn of Africa for decades. When the Iraqi state was dismantled in 2003, a similar set of consequences plagued the Middle East and the international system more broadly. In How States Die, Douglas Lemke provides an analysis of this phenomenon by reconceptualizing the definitions of the state and state death. A state exists, according to Lemke, whenever a set of state-like political entities exercise control over a populated territory. This includes both sovereign states and ""territorial contenders,"" which lack formal diplomatic recognition. Conceiving statehood in this way vastly increases the population of states that have experienced state death, which casts new light on the phenomenon. This increased range not only expands the list of ways states can die; it also provides insights into whether diplomatic recognition is associated with longer life and shows that state strength is not related to state death. Similarly, in contrast to the conventional wisdom, victories in conflict do not coincide with longer state survival. State death is one of the central questions within international relations, and Lemke's reformulation of what a state is will transform our understanding of how and why these deaths happen.

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Douglas Lemke is professor of political science at Pennsylvania State University. He studies international relations with particular focus on the interaction of conflict and the development of states. He is a ""forest"" rather than ""tree"" person, in that his intellectual orientation guides him toward commonalities across levels of development, regional settings, types of states, and types of wars. Professor Lemke earned his doctorate at Vanderbilt University, has held faculty positions at Florida State University, the University of Michigan, and Pennsylvania State University, and has mentored many undergraduate and graduate students. He has published twenty-three articles, eight chapters, and four books, either as solo-authored works or collaborations with many coauthors. Stephen Caffrey has been a stage actor in New York, Los Angeles, and across the country for over thirty years. On film and television he directed and starred in the series Tour of Duty for over three seasons on CBS. He received an Emmy nomination for his year on All my Children. He has had leading roles in many TV movies and miniseries, as well as the Sundance Film Festival winner Longtime Companion. He also has had numerous guest star appearances, including on the famous ""Yada Yada"" episode of Seinfeld. He was more recently seen in Bosch, Cinema Verite on HBO, and recurring on NBC's American Odyssey. His stage work includes shows at New York Theatre Workshop, Classic Stage Co., Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Geva, Seattle Rep., Cleveland Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Rep., Old Globe, Hartford Stage, Royal George/Chicago, and many others.

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