What do we mean when we use the term, failed states? It makes no sense theoretically and empirically, and is a political threat to countries so labeled. Yet the term is hugely popular and common place these days. Its origins tell us about the nature of transitions in the international order but very little about countries called failed states. The term is better understood as an ideology for external actors who seek to intervene in poor countries – for development assistance, peacebuilding, and statebuilding – but who cannot operate without certain preconditions for their organizations’ mandates. This lecture will argue with details about how such interventions actually make matters worse for those states and, at the same time, prevent changes in the current international order that the term first arose to promote.