State fragility, Business and Economic Performance. An Ethiopian Perspective. 2024. Palgrave Macmillan.

This new book on state fragility (authored by professor Belay Seyoum of Nova Southeastern University, Florida) focuses on the central problem of state fragility and failure in many developing countries from a multidisciplinary perspective. Fragile states encompass a wide range of countries with weak governance capacity to carry out essential public services. They provide limited personal security for their citizens and often associated with competing national identities that erode the legitimacy of the state. The case of fragile states that are in crisis and lag behind in social and economic development has been a subject of concern for scholars and the wider international community. The book goes beyond analyzing political dimensions of state fragility and examines other pertinent areas such as social and economic policies thus offering a better potential for interdisciplinary analysis.

After providing a general framework of state fragility, the book examines Ethiopia as a case study. Even though Ethiopia has a proud history as an independent nation with a unique civilization, it has recently withered into fragility. Lessons that we derive from Ethiopia will be vital and instructive for other countries that are grappling with their own fragility and failure. An important intellectual contribution of the book is to examine:

1. The major drivers and manifestations of state fragility in Ethiopia.
2. National constitution and absence of effective institutions as sources of state fragility
3. Social and economic policies that help break out of the cycle of state fragility: national policies on education, entrepreneurship, trade and technology.
4. Lessons from successful developing countries
5. Suggestions and recommendations

At this time when Ethiopia is grappling with fragility and failure, it is hoped that this book will contribute to encourage further discussions and dialogue.

Author

Belay Seyoum is Professor of International Business in the Huizenga School of Business at Nova Southeastern University, USA. Dr. Seyoum has published three books as well as numerous articles on international business in several prestigious academic journals such as the International Business Review, Journal of World Business, Journal of Economic Studies, and the International Trade Journal. He is a graduate of McGill University, Canada. He is the author of the widely used textbook on export-import trade.