Statebuilding: Phase One
Background & Program Overview
Peacebuilding, a concept which gained currency in the 1990s, can be usefully defined as activities designed to promote ‘definitive recovery’ in post-conflict contexts, helping a society move to a point where risks of relapse into conflict are reduced and violence recedes as a successful instrument to promote political or economic objectives. Over the past fifteen years, the UN has undertaken peacebuilding activities in over two dozen peacekeeping operations and several peacebuilding missions. Yet initial optimism about the UN’s role in post-conflict peacebuilding has been belied by a mixed record of success. In very few cases have the foundations for lasting and sustainable peace emerged. A recent study commissioned by the UN Department of Political Affairs concluded that countries that played host to post-conflict UN field missions since 1988 have been just as likely to revert to war as countries where the UN had no presence. Clearly, this record needs to be improved.
In the face of these lessons, there is increasing consensus among policy analysts and scholars that there is no substitute for capable and legitimate states, and that building or rebuilding state institutions is a sine qua non for peacebuilding to succeed. Unfortunately, there are no blueprints for international actors seeking to assist post-war societies develop a state that can adequately protect and govern its population. Building a legitimate and sustainable state is a complex, difficult, and lengthy task. Past experiences demonstrate that international assistance can play a positive role but is not sufficient in successfully rebuilding the institutions of a war-torn state. How can legitimate and sustainable states be built, and what role should international actors play in supporting these vital processes?
In examining these challenges and the lessons learned from previous state-building experiences, this program considers the legitimacy, effectiveness, and sustainability of international attempts (and particularly UN efforts) at state-building. As used in this context, the term “state-building” covers a wide range of international involvement directed at stabilizing a state or (re)building the institutions of a state. These include, but are not limited to: capacity building in governance, rule of law, and elections; the provision and reform of the security apparatus; and reform of the economic sector.
The goals of the State-building Program are:
- to examine the lessons learned from previous state-building experiences, particularly in terms of their legitimacy, effectiveness, and sustainability;
- to inform UN efforts to develop a systematic approach to dealing with challenges to a state’s capacity to govern and protect its population, and expand the tools available to the UN when dealing with such crises; and
- to assist in the creation and strengthening of a community of state-building policy experts.
The program is being conducted in close collaboration with the project on “Peacebuilding as State-building” at NYU’s Center on International Cooperation.
Activities and Output
The work for this program is being conducted through field research and consultations that brings the best minds to bear on examining how the UN can and should engage in state-building programs. IPA will seek to influence UN policy in both headquarters and the field, as well as how UN actions are perceived in the broader community.
The primary product of this research will be a state-of-the-art volume, edited by Dr. Charles T. Call with Vanessa Hawkins Wyeth, investigating the core challenges of institutionalizing states after conflict. The volume, slated for release in the end of 2007, is divided into two main sections. The first draws on thematic experts’ understanding of recent learning about how to approach the most important aspects of state-building. The second section examines the particular challenges of applying these themes to in-depth analyses of specific cases of state-building in practice. These cases cover a range of the most vexing and diverse challenges for international actors seeking to build states in the context of building peace, and include Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Liberia, East Timor, Somalia, and Palestine.
The volume is complemented by other publications, including several IPA Policy Reports, directed at the senior levels of the United Nations and the Permanent Missions of UN Member States, as well as the academic and policy community. The program has also held a series of specialist meetings on state-building gathering 20–25 professionals and academics to advance research and analysis of state-building activities, including a research project on post-conflict constitutional design.
The State-building Program formally concludes at the end of 2005, with follow-up on several dimensions expected in the context of IPA’s next generation of programming.