During the 1990s the concept of state failure emerged as part of an attempt to explain and understand the complex, post-Cold War, new world dis-order. State failure achieved prominence, being applied to situations of institutional collapse and mass violence that appeared to herald a new level of international instability. Ungoverned territories hosted criminal networks, narco-barons, and terrorists; they would be sources of threats flowing from environmental degradation and disease. The failed state influenced profoundly international politics in early-21st century. Exploring critically the emergence, evolution and consequences of the state failure concept, Andrew Taylor concludes that despite a superficial plausibility, it lacks sufficient theoretical and empirical rigour to understand the varying phenomena gathered under the heading of state failure. This lack of intellectual depth renders it dangerous as a guide to policy.