This edited volume explores development in the so-called 'fragile', 'failed' and 'pariah' states. It examines the literature on both fragile states and their development, and offers eleven case studies on countries ranking in the 'very high alert' and 'very high warning' categories in the Fund for Peace Failed States Index. These include unrecognised states and, in order, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific, Nepal, Malawi, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Zimbabwe, Myanmar and North Korea. The chapters are written by scholars from a diversity of disciplines, including anthropology, development economics, international relations, and development studies. Each contributor presents an assessment of the countries' sociopolitical contexts and how these are related to the crosscutting themes of actor roles, development approaches and/or modalities, providing a critique of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other fragile state development principles.