This study contributes to U.S. foreign assistance policy by demonstrating education's relationship to nation-state fragility. It surveys the efficacy of current U.S. foreign assistance policy and state-building efforts as related to education and provides empirical analysis of available data regarding the effects of school enrollment levels on state fragility. The overarching inquiry of the study is to investigate whether levels of school enrollments can predict nation-state fragility. Accordingly, the study provides empirical analysis of (a) which level of enrollments (primary, secondary, or tertiary) has the highest effect on the levels of fragility and is subsequently the best investment for U.S. foreign assistance efforts; (b) how school enrollments affect the following discrete elements of state fragility: security effectiveness, political effectiveness, economic effectiveness, social effectiveness; security legitimacy, political legitimacy, economic legitimacy, and social legitimacy; and (c) whether there is a difference in levels of nation-state fragility based on year-of-school enrollment. Permanent country characteristics, such as climate, geography, and culture, which are known to influence education and state fragility, as well as endogeneity between enrollment levels and state fragility, were mitigated by using a combination of first-differences and instrumental variable methods. This model provides new perspectives on the interaction between education and the phenomenon of state fragility. Namely, it shows that mass education at both primary and secondary levels, measured as average years of schooling, seems to mitigate state fragility. Both primary and secondary education may contribute to political and social legitimacy of a state. Only primary education may bolster security effectiveness, although secondary education may bolster economic effectiveness of a state. Conversely, secondary education may diminish economic legitimacy, whereas tertiary education may diminish social legitimacy of a state. Finally, only primary education seems to produce long-lasting results, which may mitigate state fragility. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]