engaging fragile states - Woodrow Wilson International Center for ...
engaging fragile states - Woodrow Wilson International Center for ...
engaging fragile states - Woodrow Wilson International Center for ...
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Analytical tools <strong>for</strong> identifying the specific drivers of conflict, fragility and<br />
resiliencies in individual country contexts, and a number of recently completed<br />
country assessments;<br />
• >> Professional staff in several agencies who increasingly understand the sources<br />
of state fragility and are interested in learning what can work;<br />
• >> A wide array of funded military, development, diplomacy, and trade policy<br />
instruments and programs that could or already operate in many <strong>fragile</strong><br />
<strong>states</strong>, or could, often through NGOs or contractors, and that can be geared<br />
to address their weaknesses;<br />
• >> Several US government and intergovernmental entities that could take on<br />
the task of linking the activities and resources of the US and other entities<br />
that are most appropriate <strong>for</strong> a given country context;<br />
• >> Like-minded partner <strong>states</strong> and international organizations whose staffs and<br />
resources are also devoted to the same general purposes.<br />
In short, the ingredients that the US needs are largely in place. If policies, knowledge,<br />
instruments, resources, decision-making machinery, or implementers already<br />
exist, then what is missing? Essentially, the remaining challenge has to do with actually<br />
utilizing the assets the US already possesses more efficiently and effectively.<br />
The US does not need to do more regarding <strong>fragile</strong> <strong>states</strong>; rather, the US needs to<br />
address <strong>fragile</strong> and failed <strong>states</strong> differently than how it addresses developing countries.<br />
Indeed, spending more on current programs in these settings is often at best,<br />
inefficient and wasteful and at worst, contributes to weakening recipient <strong>states</strong>.<br />
The preceding sections provide a number of crucial interconnected insights<br />
that point to ways that the US could be more strategic in using its assets and obtain<br />
more cost-effective results within current resource parameters. The following<br />
pages cast these insights in the <strong>for</strong>m of eight guidelines <strong>for</strong> operationalizing the<br />
US policy commitment to reducing state fragility. The result is a leaner, more realistic<br />
US approach that runs counter to several conventional wisdoms in current<br />
US security, development and diplomacy doctrine and practice. 29<br />
120 | Engaging Fragile States: An <strong>International</strong> Policy Primer