The Security-Politics-Development Nexus: The Lessons of State-Building in Sub-Saharan Africa

How can development policy support weak, dysfunctional or fragile states? What constitutes state fragility and what are the appropriate instruments for state-building? After reviewing two recent quantitative indexes (The Index of State Weakness in the Developing World and The Ibrahim Index of African Governance), this paper cautions against the current tendency to categorise a large number of countries as weak, fragile or failing states. Drawing upon country case studies on Namibia, Somalia and Guinea-Bissau, the paper argues that state-building is fundamentally a political process and external state-builders need to develop greater understanding of the internal dynamics of individual societies in order to provide appropriate support to address state fragility. Current strategies for statebuilding are heavily weighted in favour of technical, institutional and formal arrangements. Moreover, since 9/11, the international state-building agenda has increasingly focused on state weakness as a challenge for international peace and security, rather than as an issue of national governance. As a result, many preferred policy prescriptions risk weakening the very states that they hope to strengthen.governance

Introduction: Dealing with Human Rights in the Arab World

First presented at the 1994 Cairo Papers Annual Symposiumhttps://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_book_chapters/1927/thumbnail.jp

The United States, the Arab World and the Gulf Crisis

In mid-1990, tensions were rapidly growing in that part of the Middle East now generally referred to as the Gulf. The immediate issue was Iraq\u27s claim that other oil producers in the area were exceeding agreed quotas and therefore keeping oil prices inordinately low. By July, a sharp confrontation had developed between Iraq and Kuwait. Baghdad not only accused its smaller neighbor of quota violations but also of having encroached upon Iraq\u27s own oil resources. With the encouragement of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Iraqi and Kuwaiti representatives met in Jeddah at the end of the month. By then, Iraqi demands had blossomed into clear territorial claims as well as an insistence that Kuwait forgive a multi-billion dollar debt incurred by Baghdad during the eight-year war it launched against Iran in 1981. The Jeddah talks collapsed in less than twenty-four hours with no movement toward agreement. Meanwhile, Iraq\u27s autocratic president, Saddam Hussein, amassed thousands of troops on the Kuwaiti border. Most observers remained calmly certain that the sabre-rattling would lead to no more than further talks and some eventual accommodation whereby Kuwait would pay its way out of the crisis, either in cash or possibly through some minor territorial adjustment. On August 2, Saddam surprised everyone. Iraq invaded Kuwait in massive force, initially using the transparently false claim that it was responding to a local revolution. The tiny Sheikhdom was quickly conquered. Baghdad soon announced its annexation. Shockwaves coursed aro nd the globe in the wake of these events. The Arab World lapsed into initial paralysis which soon yielded to divisions as governments assessed their options and political pundits as well as the proverbial man-on-the­street took positions. Global opinion generally condemned Iraq, though at this level too there was obvious initial uncertainty over what action might be taken. The United States emerged as the leading force behind negative international reaction. The outline of a wide International Coalition calling for Baghdad\u27s withdrawal from Kuwait soon crystallized. The U.N. Security Council imposed a trade embargo against Iraq and the measure was enforced by American and European navies. Thousands of U.S. troops were rushed to Saudi Arabia. where they were joined by Egyptian, Moroccan, Syrian, British and French forces. Over the following months these were augmented to various degrees by military units contributed by a number of additional countries while yet other states extended various other types of support. Saddam vowed that Kuwait\u27s annexation was irreversible but called for an international conference to resolve all major outstanding Middle East problems, which in his view not only meant the issue of Kuwait but also Israel\u27s occupation of Palestine and presence in south Lebanon as well as Syria\u27s involvement in Lebanon. As though to emphasize its inflexibility, Bagdad in effect took several thousand foreigners hostage by forbidding their exit from Iraq or occupied Kuwait . Suspecting that this might be the case, Cairo Papers altered its publication schedule in the early fall of 1990 to make room for the present issue.https://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_book_chapters/1902/thumbnail.jp

L’articulation développement-sécurité. De la rhétorique à la compréhension d’une dynamique complexe

Introduction La communauté internationale a tendance à parler et à travailler en expressions codées : le développement durable, la sécurité humaine, le consensus de Monterrey, le cycle de Doha, les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement (omd), la prévention des conflits, l’Etat de droit, la réforme du secteur de la sécurité, la consolidation de la paix, la guerre à la terreur, l’édification des Etats. La liste est longue et s’est rallongée cette dernière décennie à la faveur du dévelop..

Transitions from war to peace : issues, challenges and policy lessons

At head of title: Review article"Submitted to the Canadian Journal of Development Studies"Also published in the Canadian journal of development studies, v. 17, no. 3, 199

Investing in Equity: Creating Equitable Funding for Women Peacebuilders

Although women are vital to the success and sustainability of peace efforts, and despite progress made by the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda over the past two decades, women peacebuilders remain severely underfunded — and the funding that is available to them is often unresponsive to their needs and characterized by a power disparity between funder and funded. In order to advance women’s inclusion in peace and justice processes, this report examines what equitable funding partnerships are, why they are essential to peacebuilding, and how they can best be cultivated, providing evidence from the field to support its findings, conclusions and recommendations.https://digital.sandiego.edu/ipj-research/1002/thumbnail.jp