engaging fragile states - Woodrow Wilson International Center for ...

Report Aims and Structure
To help bridge these gaps, this report seeks to advance US government and non-governmental
collaboration by consolidating what has been learned about how to identify
and approach the threats and potential opportunities in fragile and failed states.
The following sections are based on presentations at a day-long Colloquium on Failed
and Fragile States, hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars,
which asked leading specialists to present findings from recent research and practice
about ways to achieve more effective US policies. Unlike forums that aim to stimulate
more debate rather than action, the presenters were charged with seeking some
closure about the best analyses of state failure and most plausible policy options.
While no answers are infallible, the resulting presentations move beyond the clichés
and advocacy of programs that often substitute for evidence-based analysis in order
to offer a mosaic of linked findings from recent experience. To that end, the sessions
of the Colloquium were organized around critical strategic questions that policymakers
face at the global, country, and sector levels. These questions run through
the current discourse and scattered forums on facets of fragile or failed states and are
key to more coherent US thinking and action.
The report is divided into four sections that are organized around the main
discussion topics from the Colloquium. See the graphic to the right for a detailed
explanation. Parts I and II descend from the global level to the policy sector level.
Part I discusses the global incidence of state failure; its elements and sources; and
the societal dynamics that lead to state failure, or avoid it. By scanning the globe
for countries at risk of failure and identifying the aspects of a state and society that
may be weak, Part I provides a crucial first step in developing appropriate country
strategies. Part II looks more closely at the national level to review lessons from
recent experience regarding the best sequencing of major state-building tasks in
two types of country situations: post-conflict and potential conflict. Then it zeroes
in on the sectoral level by identifying particular instruments that have worked
well in achieving three vital functions in fragile states: political leadership, service
delivery, and economic growth.
Part III moves back to a global level by surveying the abilities of major governments
and multilateral organizations, such as the UN, for undertaking the kinds
of coherent ground-level state-building strategies that have been laid out. This is
followed by a consideration of the US government efforts to establish structures
and procedures for addressing fragile states. Concluding the report, Part IV extracts
the most compelling answers from the previous sections to the central question
above: how the US can tackle the problems of fragile states by taking realistic
steps without new and expensive programs.
10 | Engaging Fragile States: An International Policy Primer