A failed state is a Sub-Trope of Crapsack World where, for one reason or another, a nation's government has all but collapsed. Maybe a war has drained its wealth and resources, or a famine or disease has devastated its population, and everyone is too busy scrounging for food to support a bureaucracy. Maybe a series of Civil Wars or coup d'êtats has left the nation too chaotic and divided to be effectively governed.