Armed state building : confronting state failure, 1898-2012 /

This is a tightly argued book on armed state building in failed states. Besides displaying impressive academic and methodological skills, Miller (National Defense Univ.) has worked with the US military, intelligence community, and policy worlds for a decade. Chapter 1 introduces the topic, chapters 2-6 distinguish between different aspects of state failure and state building, chapter 7 focuses on five state-building case studies, and chapter 8 offers conclusions. Two appendixes are especially useful in demonstrating the transparency and rigor of the methodology, with one appendix on the selection of case studies and another on how success and failure of state-building interventions are measured. The careful selection of cases and innovative distinctions among kinds of failed states and degrees of success and failure of different state-building interventions advance the literature. Miller is an enthusiastic supporter of armed state building, which is a concern in light of the mixed record, but he does cogently justify this position in the concluding chapter. The book ends with an extensive bibliography and index. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, research, and professional collections. M. A. Morris emeritus, Clemson University