The essay will discuss the links between terrorist organizations and failed states while mostly focusing on Somalia as a failed state. The essay will also discuss the motivation behind the use of terrorist tactics by such terrorist organizations that operate in Somalia. The essay will continue to further discuss the ideology and motivations behind the use of terrorist tactics by Al Qaeda and Al shabab. The essay will start with an introduction on failed states, by looking at what failed states are and how states fail. The essay will then looked at failed states that have been linked with terrorism and will argue to some extent failed states harbour terrorist and terrorist organisations and will further discuss the motivation and tactics of terrorist organizations that operate in failed states particularly in Somalia. A states success can be measured by its ability to deliver security that is the state's primary and most important function providing a framework through which all other political goods can be delivered and by Law a system of codes and procedures which regulate the interactions of the population and sets the standards for conduct. According to Max Weber in order to be successful a state needs to maintain “a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within its border” (Weber 1918:19) so state is to be the only source of legitimacy for any use of violence and no other within the state. If this is not the case and a monopoly on the use of violence does not exist from the state, private individuals or groups such as warlords or terrorist groups will, inevitably, arm themselves and use violence against each other and others and therefore the eventually the state will fail. The concept of failed state has been part of the political reality for as long as the international system of states has existed. “The notion of state failure was a colonial preoccupation" (Jon Fraenke 2004). Historically at the peak of European expansion weaker states, insecurity and disorder provided the opportunities, excuses and justification for powerful states to intervene their sovereign lands. The present day concept of failed states firstly re-emerged as a humanitarian concern after the collapse of the Soviet Alliance in the early 1990's. After the end of the cold war as a wave of new state formation and the acceleration of globalization occurred the issue of failed states was pushed forward to the forefront of the international agenda. The actual term of failed states was firstly used by Gerald Helman and Steven Ratner ' in a 1993 Foreign Affairs article. In the article they were concerned about "a disturbing new phenomenon" whereby a state was becoming "utterly incapable of sustaining itself as a member of the international community” (G H Helman, S. Ratner 1993) Since the attacks of September the 11th and the waves of terrorist attacks which followed, such as the London bombings, terrorism has given the problem of failed states a new dominant and importance that has transcended its previous humanitarian dimension. Even though historically the phenomenon of failed states is not something new to the world, it has become much more relevant and worrying than ever before for the international states to take notice. Before globalisation in early periods in a lesser interconnected world a failed state could be ignored and isolated from the rest of the world mainly due to the fact that failed states had fewer implication for peace and security to the rest of the world. Today in the era of globalisation failed states represent a variety of dangers not only to themselves but also to the international system as the mechanisms of a government fails its expose to all kind of violence internally and its often that conflicts which inevitably seeps across borders in the form of fighting, trafficking of drugs, weapons, refugees, and instability. According to former US president Jimmy Carter, failed states "can become havens for terrorist ideologues seeking refuge and support, failed states are the breeding grounds for drug trafficking, money laundering, the spread of infectious diseases, uncontrolled environmental degradation, mass refugee flows and illegal immigration” (The Human Right to Peace 2004). Terrorist who operate in failed states today can now operate on a more global scale, using modern technology as globalization has facilitated the easy movement of information, goods, and people, increasing opportunities for terrorists to gain and disseminate information and to penetrate not only neighboring states but across national borders. The Fund for Peace an independent nonprofit research and educational organization that works to prevent conflicts and focuses on the problems of weak and failing states annually publishes an index called the Failed States Index. In recent years some of the countries that have consistently topped the list included Somalia, Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan. All these countries incl