This is a very interesting discussion. The book critiques the UN’s traditional approach of ‘state-building’, i.e. treating what it deems ‘failed states’ as simple machines where you can simply remove the bad part and replace it with a good part and all will be well. The author proposes treating them as complex systems, and ultimately as sites of self-governance, not world-building exercises from the outside.
"There is no such thing as an ungoverned space"
https://newbooksnetwork.com/states-of-disorder-ecosystems-of-governance
@neil My friend chronicled how when the UN arrived to govern E Timor, they approached it as a political tabla rusa, limiting their interactions to internationally known politicians https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1093/survival/42.3.27?journalCode=tsur20 Let me know if you want a copy I will send it. He doesn’t include devastating longer term consequences, which include near state collapse five years on.