For over 40 years the Palestinian people have had poor leadership. Their leaders have not advanced the Palestinian cause towards self-determination in a productive fashion. Current Palestinian leadership under Hamas is no different. This book argues that Hamas is not an effective state-builder. This assessment is based on an examination of the organization s state-building activities vis-à-vis the following four dimensions of state-building: a) nation-building, b) security provision, c) institutional development, and d) economic development. This book determines which areas of state-building Hamas is engaging in effectively and which ones it is not in terms of these four dimensions. The book concludes that while Hamas is engaging in effective nation-building, it is not engaging in an equally effective manner in the other three dimensions.