The rupture of a medium under stress typifies breakdown phenomena. Moregenerally, the latter encompass the dynamics of systems of many interactingelements governed by the interplay of a driving force with a pinning disorder,resulting in a macroscopic transition. A simple mean-field formalismincorporating these features is presented and applied to systems representativeof fracture phenomena, social dilemmas, and magnets out of equilibrium. Thesimilarities and differences in the corresponding mathematical structures areemphasized. The solutions are best obtained from a graphical method, from whichvery general conclusions may be drawn. In particular, the various classes ofdisorder distribution are treated without reference to a particular analyticalor numerical form, and are found to lead to qualitatively differenttransitions. Finally, the notion of effective (or phenomenological) theory isintroduced and illustrated for non-equilibrium disordered magnets.
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