ABSTRACT
The following pages proceed through four sections. It first discusses the epistemology of state collapse, focusing on a particular historical example of potential relevance. Then it focuses on some of the factors that may have abetted state survival in the DPRK case in recent years. It also discuss the sustainability of North Korea's current economic modus operandi. The chapter concludes with an examination of some of the questions pertaining to a DPRK transition to a more pragmatic variant of a planned socialist economy. The simple fact is that the modern world lacks anything like a corpus of science by which to offer robust predictions about impending episodes of social revolution, systemic breakdown, or state collapse, although major efforts have been undertaken to systematize the study of state failure. The anticipation of such dramatic political events might aspire to art rather than science just as the technique of successful stock picking has always been, an art and not a science.
