State Death' is a pathbreaking study of how and why states 'die' or are eliminated from the international system. Despite previous attention to the issues of war, state emergence and failure, and strategies for success, the phenomenon of state death has not previously received systematic attention. Fazal deserves enormous credit for introducing the discipline of international relations to what should have been a topic of long-standing interest.'--David A. Lake, University of California, San Diego 'The book is one of the first--and definitely the best--to examine the fundamental question far too oft overlooked: what behavior, exactly, allows states to survive? Fazal tackles an extremely important topic--the causes of 'state death'--which has broad ramifications for competing theoretical frameworks in international relations as well as for policy. I am confident this book will feature on many syllabi for years to come.'--Hein Goemans, University of Rochester