„Stay Engaged“ statt „Let Them Fail“ : Ein Literaturbericht über entwicklungspolitische Debatten in Zeiten fragiler Staatlichkeit

At the beginning of the 21st century, fragile statehood has become a defining issue for development policy. The implications that a lack of state capacity has for development are manifold, including threats to physical security, an ineffective public administration, and a lack of basic social services (e.g. in education, health, and energy). As a result, standard methods of development cooperation are faced with the challenge of how to adapt to these „difficult partnerships“. Accordingly, donors have been engaged in a major debate which has been going on at least since 2001. Among the key actors of this debate have been the World Bank, the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) as well as various national governments. The discussion is based on three assumptions shared by these contributors: (1) Political conditionality is of little use when dealing with fragile states, (2) The mid‐ to long‐term goals of cooperation are supporting reform processes and building state capacity, and (3) Innovative approaches employing non‐ and sub‐state actors as local partners have to be explored. This report provides a survey of the debate, outlining the central characteristics of the individual approaches and showing their commonalities, strengths and deficits. After situating the issue of fragile statehood in current world politics, we discuss the concepts and approaches of five central donors: the World Bank, OECD/DAC, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany. This serves to give a brief history of the debate and points out similarities and differences between the various positions. Having discussed the political debate, we then turn to the academic discourse. Here, we first discuss the transition literature which mainly focused on weak states in Central and Eastern Europe as well as research on governance (in particular the World Governance Survey). We find that these strands of research have relevant contributions to make to the policy debate which have hitherto received little attention outside of academia. In our conclusion, we discuss possible avenues for further research

State Failure Revisited II : Actors of Violence and Alternative Forms of Governance

This INEF report is the companion piece to “State Failure Revisited I: Globalization of Security and Neighborhood Effects” (INEF Report 87/2007). While the first working paper mainly took a structural perspective and dealt with the global and regional level, the contributions in our new study put those actors in the spotlight who shape national and local arenas. Daniel Biró’s paper on warlordism in the “Westphalian Periphery” reconstructs different waves of warlord analysis (European feudalism; China at the beginning of the 20th century; Africa in the 1990s) and evaluates the usefulness of applying related concepts like praetorianism, organized crime, caudillismo, and insurgency. The article challenges the dominant view that warlords are almost exclusively driven by economic interests and instead looks at warlordism as an alternative form of governance in contexts that are defined by “oligopolies of violence”. Under these circumstances, warlords impact state‐building and may even allow for the provision of public goods. Driving factors are the warlord’s need to mobilize a minimum degree of legitimacy within local communities or his aspiration to gain control over society. Furthermore, as Biró argues, warlords may hold the local population captive if humanitarian organizations are willing to deliver social services as they can thus diversify their modes of ‘resource extraction’ and increase their autonomy. Andreas Mehler and Judy Smith‐Höhn present an empirical case study on Liberia and Sierra Leone. Which security‐relevant actors are perceived as being able to offer protection? Who is a potential source of threat? Preliminary answers to these guiding questions are given for Liberia, based on data collected in 2006. It turns out that urban respondents regarded the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) as overwhelmingly important for their personal safety, followed by the Liberia National Police (18.4%). Vigilantes, area teams, and neighborhood watches were assessed as ambivalent, being partly a source of protection but also a source of concern. The major threats for personal security, however, obviously stem from street boys, ex‐combatants, political party militias, and secret societies. The contribution concludes that international engagement in security sector reform will remain crucial. But it also argues that a clear understanding of all relevant local players, including non‐state actors, is necessitated because their relevance will grow as soon as external actors withdraw their personnel and resources

Major flaws in conflict prevention policies towards Africa : the conceptual deficits of international actors’ approaches and how to overcome them

Current thinking on African conflicts suffers from misinterpretations oversimplification, lack of focus, lack of conceptual clarity, state-centrism and lack of vision). The paper analyses a variety of the dominant explanations of major international actors and donors, showing how these frequently do not distinguish with sufficient clarity between the ‘root causes’ of a conflict, its aggravating factors and its triggers. Specifically, a correct assessment of conflict prolonging (or sustaining) factors is of vital importance in Africa’s lingering confrontations. Broader approaches (e.g. “structural stability”) offer a better analytical framework than familiar one-dimensional explanations. Moreover, for explaining and dealing with violent conflicts a shift of attention from the nation-state towards the local and sub-regional level is needed.Aktuelle Analysen afrikanischer Gewaltkonflikte sind häufig voller Fehlinterpretationen (Mangel an Differenzierung, Genauigkeit und konzeptioneller Klarheit, Staatszentriertheit, fehlende mittelfristige Zielvorstellungen). Breitere Ansätze (z. B. das Modell der Strukturellen Stabilität) könnten die Grundlage für bessere Analyseraster und Politiken sein als eindimensionale Erklärungen. häufig differenzieren Erklärungsansätze nicht mit ausreichender Klarheit zwischen Ursachen, verschärfenden und auslösenden Faktoren. Insbesondere die richtige Einordnung konfliktverlängernder Faktoren ist in den jahrzehntelangen gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzungen in Afrika von zentraler Bedeutung. Das Diskussionspapier stellt die große Variationsbreite dominanter Erklärungsmuster der wichtigsten internationalen Geber und Akteure gegenüber und fordert einen Perspektivenwechsel zum Einbezug der lokalen und der subregionalen Ebene für die Erklärung und Bearbeitung gewaltsamer Konflikte

Conflict early warning and response mechanisms: tools for enhancing the effectiveness of regional organisations? A comparative study of the AU, ECOWAS, IGAD, ASEAN/ARF and PIF

This paper aims to present a systematic overview of key existing early warning response mechanisms and to analyse to what extent and under what conditions these mechanisms might be a useful peace and security promotion tool for regional organisations. It analyses the strengths and weaknesses of existing EWR mechanisms and the experience of regional organisations in implementing them, as well as examining why some regional organisations have failed to establish such mechanisms

UN Peace Operations in Sub-Saharan Africa: Possibilities and Limits of Multilateral Conflict Management in Regionalized Civil Wars ; an Analysis within the Framework of the Global Governance Approach

Can UN conflict management be effective in African civil wars? In order to answer this question, the study chooses the Global Governance approach as a frame of reference and applies it to peace and conflict research. A short historical excursion considers the role of the United Nations in the Congo conflict (1960-1964) and in southern Africa. Five case studies form the empirical core of the thesis: Namibia, Angola, Mozambique, Somalia and Rwanda. The thesis compares the experiences of the 1990's and discusses current proposals on the reform of UN peace operations (e.g. the Brahimi Report)

Kriegswirtschaft und Friedenskonsolidierung: Erfahrungen und Herausforderungen in den Regionen des Suedens

Available from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, D-21400 Kiel C 205819 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Dealing with fragile states: Entry points and approaches for development cooperation

Fragile states are characterised by a great potential for crisis that endangers human security and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is increasingly being recognized that external actors should stay involved, either directly or indirectly; at the same time, though, new entry points and approaches are needed (the "stay engaged, but differently“ principle). Donor behavior in cases of fragile statehood can be based on two key parameters: (a) the effectiveness of state institutions, (b) the legitimacy of the respective government. In order not to create parallel and hybrid structures, donors are well-advised, in general, to focus on existing structures and coordinate their political priorities with the governments (systems and policy alignment). However, lack of development orientation, widespread corruption, or markedly repressive rule may make such a cooperation a highly problematic proposition. Thus, it will in a substantial number of cases also be necessary to engage with partners “beyond the state,” i.e. with nonstate groups, the private sector, and local governmental units. A major task for development cooperation is the (re-)creation of capabilities in six governance arenas: security, political, judicial, administrative, social, and economic governance. This must be approached on a country-by-country basis, based on empirical assessments of the current situation, and preferably drawing on the knowledge of local experts. Despite this qualification some cross-cutting priorities are identified within the study: (re)establishment of the state monopoly on the legitimate use of forces and efforts to combat ordinary crime; a functioning separation of powers (horizontal checks and balances); respect for the rule of law, and “legal empowerment” of citizens; efforts to combat corruption and to eliminate criminal economies. Donors’ ability to have a positive impact on fragile states remains limited, unless they pursue coherent policies on the national level and coordinate more effectively on the international level. The development of common country strategies, the clarification of responsibilities as well as harmonised analysis and decision-making mechanisms in the case of ‘states at risk’ are steps in the right direction

Mit Korruptionsbekämpfung zum take off bei den MDGs? Zu Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer entwicklungspolitischen Strategie

Die Millenniumserklärung von 2000 und das Bekenntnis der 56. Generalversammlung der Vereinten Nationen zu den Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) im September 2001 bildeten einen Markstein für internationale Verpflichtungen im Bereich der Entwicklungspolitik