CENTENNIAL HONORS COLLEGE
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2016
PodiumPresentation
ContemporaryCausesofStateFailure:ACaseStudyofSouthSudan
BenjaminP.Meyers
FacultyMember:GregBaldi
PoliticalScience
Priorresearchhasrevealedthatthereareseveraldifferentcausestostatefailure.However,thereare
ongoingdisputesaboutwhattrulycausesstatesaroundtheworldtofallintocompletefailure.My
researchfirstanalyzesseveraldifferentknownperspectivesforwhystatesfail.Afteranalyzingthese
differentthoughts,Ithenwillcompileanew,andmoremodernsetofcauses/reasonsthatbestexplain
statefailure.Oncethecauses/reasonsarecompiledIwillputthemtothetestinacasestudyofSouth
Sudan.IwillexaminetheSouthSudanfromadiversenumberofangles,andapplymynewlyminted
criteriaforstatefailure:ModernCausesandReasonsforStateFailure.InstudyingSouthSudan,Ihope
tofindwhatisreallytherootcauseofstatefailure,aswellasdiscoveranynewpiecestotheevergrowingpuzzlethatisstatefailure.