Discuss the following essay questions in an essay of several pages with citations where needed.

1.  According to Max Weber one major feature distinguished the power of the Nation State from other social institutions. What is it? How does Weber’s definition helps up understand the role of warfare and revolutions in military technology in shaping first the European and later the world state system? How does this help us understand “state failure” in the “fourth world? What factors contribute to social breakdown and state failure in East Africa according to Christian Parenti? What are some recent examples of this process of “catastrophic convergence” at work in Horn of Africa, Central Asia or the Middle East?