"Like Burma/Myanmar, Bihar is a case of partial state failure that falls short of complete collapse. In Bihar the civil service is reasonably competent but elected governments have colluded in the privatization of violence. Bihar thus allows us to explore the impact of the erosion of the monopoly of violence alone, without the confounding effects of the host of issues simultaneously in play in cases of radical collapse like Afghanistan. People in Bihar must live with the effects of the privatization of violence, even while the central government mandates democratic political institutions and a civil service that is often corrupt but relatively competent at delivering services."