ABSTRACT
There is growing apprehension that India is precariously positioned in a geographical region marked by a contiguous cluster of ‘failed or failing’ states. These so-called failed states have become a matter of concern because it is believed that disturbances within their territories may produce similar destabilising tendencies across borders within India through conflict spillovers, refugee flows and weapons proliferation. The growing concern with failed states is based on the idea that states today face threats not only from other state actors, but, more importantly, from a multitude of trans-national threats, rooted in state failure, which emanate from both state and non-state actors. The threats that are believed to stem from failed states are broadly — terrorism, transnational crime, weapons proliferation, regional instability, the spread of disease and epidemics, and armed conflict. As with terrorist groups, transnational organised crime, involving the production and/or trafficking of drugs, weapons, people, and other illicit goods, is also believed to thrive in failed states.
