Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World

Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart have taken an active part in the effort to save failed states for many years, serving as World Bank officials, as advisers to the UN, and as high-level participants in Afghanistan. In Fixing Failed States, they described the issue--vividly and convincingly--offering an on-the-ground picture of why past efforts have not worked and advancing a groundbreaking new solution to this most pressing of global crises. For the paperback edition, a new preface addresses continuing governance problems in weak states like Afghanistan and the global financial recession.

Ashraf Ghani played a central role in the design and implementation of the post-Taliban settlement in Afghanistan, serving as UN adviser to the Bonn process and as Finance Minister during Afghanistan's Transitional Administration. He has worked at the World Bank and taught at Johns Hopkins and Berkeley universities. He has been nominated for the job of Secretary General of the United Nations and considered for the job of President of the World Bank. He chairs the Institute for State Effectiveness.

Clare Lockhart is co-founder and director of the Institute for State Effectiveness, established in 2007 to advise leaders on transformation of countries from instability to stability. From 2001 to 2005, she lived and worked in Afghanistan, first as a member of the UN negotiation team and then advising the Afghan Government, leading design of several national initiatives. She now advises leaders on a range of countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas. She was educated at Oxford, Harvard and is a member of the Bar of England and Wales.