They points to really brief case studies of 10 failed states:
Some countries fail spectacularly, with a total collapse of all
state institutions, as in Afghanistan after the Soviet
withdrawal and the hanging of President Mohammad Najibullah from
a lamppost, or during the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone,
where the government ceased to exist altogether. Most countries
that fall apart, however, do so not with a bang but with a
whimper. They fail not in an explosion of war and violence but
by being utterly unable to take advantage of their society’s
huge potential for growth, condemning their citizens to a
lifetime of poverty. This type of slow, grinding failure leaves
many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America
with living standards far, far below those in the West. What’s
tragic is that this failure is by design. These states collapse
because they are ruled by what we call “extractive” economic
institutions, which destroy incentives, discourage innovation,
and sap the talent of their cit