Governance and crisis states
Building the state and securing the peace
How integral is peacebuilding to effective state building?
Authors:
Publisher:
Department for International Development, UK, 2009
Peace building is a very important facet of achieving lasting poverty reduction in highly fragile states. This paper analyses the operational implications of the strategic framework of the UK's Department For International Development’s engagement in situations of conflict and fragility. It gives a conceptual understanding of state-building and peace building. It outlines, with examples, an integrated approach to state-building and peace-building, to help DFID and partners set strategic objectives and understand linkages and tensions.
The paper states that donors must be aware that building peaceful states and societies needs to be at the centre of their responses in conflict-affected and fragile states. The authors assert that state-building and peace-building are long-term, highly complex political processes, driven by a range of factors and incentives and it is valuable to address them in tandem since they are linked to an inclusive political settlement.
The paper offers a number of lessons, including:
- State and peace-building should be considered in an integrated way with the former factoring in causes of conflict and the latter considering the long-term implications for state building and growth
- In addition to short-term technical support and long-term political institution strengthening, different elites should be engaged
- Understanding causes of conflict and fragility can help in prioritising and identifying the critical dynamics that are driving instability, the incentives that are driving participation in conflict, and possible entry points
- Service delivery must address the causes of conflict and fragility to ensure that long-term state building is not undermined, while accepting there may be compromises to deliver rapid responses.
