What is a failed state?

What is a failed state? How do you reclaim one?  Foreign Policy Magazine issued its rankings of failed states this year and Liberia ranks in the middle, 33rd out of 60. Small consolation if you are one of the teenagers facing an ongoing epidemic of rape, or even a UN Peacekeeping troop being robbed at cutlass point in downtown Monrovia.

There are many scholars trying to figure it out. I don't have a good definition yet. Here is what Noam Chomsky says in his book on failed states:

Among the most salient properties of failed states is that they do not protect their citizens from violence-and perhaps even destruction-or that decision makers regard such concerns as lower in priority than the short term power and wealth of the state's dominant sectors.

He is talking about a state like Liberia during the civil war. Is it still a failed state today?  Here is one short excerpt, Iten 13, from the August Security report by the United Nations  Mission in Liberia to the Security Council 

There have been a number of cases of mob violence, some prompted by lack of confidence in the police and the wider justice system. On 27 February, an off-duty police officer was set ablaze in Monrovia by an angry mob after he shot a man for undisclosed reasons. An Armed Forces of Liberia soldier, who attempted to rescue the officer, was attacked by the mob and subsequently died of his injuries. Early in July, student elections at the University of Liberia turned violent on two occasions, resulting in eight injured students. As political attention is increasingly focused towards the 2011 elections, some mob action has taken on political connotations. On 11 July, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and his supporters allegedly assaulted and seriously wounded a police officer who, while fulfilling official duties, had earlier impounded a truck belonging to the Deputy Speaker. Approximately 200 armed partisans from his party, the Congress for Democratic Change, subsequently prevented the police from questioning the representative in a siege lasting several hours.

On our upcoming reporting trip to Liberia, we will be talking to UNMIL officers, as well as sitting legislators. After so many years of destruction and violence, any progress towards restarting a failed state must lead to many desultory conversations. We shall see where they find hope. The UNMIL report does offer some small measures of progress, but tinged with pessimism:

"Liberia continues to make significant progress in consolidating its peace and security. However, potentially destabilizing factors, such as persistent political and social divides, limited progress on national reconciliation, and the widespread perception that impunity is prevalent continue to threaten the gains achieved so far."

So, what is a failed state? How do you even begin to bring one back from chaos and anarchy?  Sourcewatch, in defining a failed state, brings up the argument that there is a neo-colonialist tinge to the phrase, but sticks with the notion among many international activists that some kind of definition is necessary to allow for humanitarian interventions.

These interventions can last for decades and cost billions. The UNMIL effort is into the billions now and there is agreement that the troops should stay at least until after the 2011 elections. Then what? A reassessment is the conclusion from the UN.
Any thoughts?