Preventing and Rebuilding Failed States Amid Global Economic Crisis: What are Realistic Options for U.S. Policy?

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June 05 2009, 8:30 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.

Part I: Video of Event (Windows Media Player) Part II: Video of Event (Windows Media Player) Part III: Video of Event (Windows Media Player) Part IV: Video of Event (Windows Media Player)

Event Summary

The Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity recently held a policy colloquium, Preventing and Rebuilding Failed States Amid Global Economic Crisis, on June 5th, 2009. A summary of this event's proceedings will be available here shortly. Please see related documents and presentations below.

As the U.S. government copes with huge challenges in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, other fragile states hang in the balance while generating threats to U.S. and international security. This colloquium was held with the intention of informing U.S. decision-making on how to approach these emerging threats more deliberately and cost-effectively by retrieving key lessons and evidence from years of U.S. and international experience in post-conflict countries and transitioning societies vulnerable to conflict. Sessions focused on strategic “whole of government” issues at the global, regional, country, and sectoral levels. Included among the topics and presenters were:

•Scanning potential threats
Jack Goldstone, George Mason University

•Prioritizing and sequencing in post-conflict countries
Ambassador James Dobbins, RAND

•When can third-party mediation incentivize post-settlement state-building?
William Zartman, SAIS

•Can viable states be built up and out from local de facto informal authorities, i.e., “governance without government”?
Ken Menkhaus, Davidson College

•Key lessons in stimulating local enterprise
Sarah Cliffe, World Bank

•UN progress and obstacles seeking inter-agency coherence and cooperation with regional organizations
Charles Call, American University

•Re-sorting USG budgetary resources for fragile and failed states
Gordon Adams, American University

Please see related documents below.

Conference Presentations
Conflict Prevention: Theory in Pursuit of Policy and Practice
Michael Lund
Download pdf

How Can Islands of Stability Be Expanded and, If Necessary, Created?
Tony Gambino
Download pdf

A Guide to Economic Growth in Post-Conflict Countries
James T. Smith, USAID
Download ppt

Identifying Fragile States, Their Problems, and Possible Solutions
Jack Goldstone, George Mason University
Download ppt

Societal-Systems Analysis: State Fragility and Political Instability
Monty Marshall, George Mason University
Download ppt

Extent and Sources of State Fragility and Failure
David Carment, Canadian Defense and Foreign Affairs Institute
Download ppt

Fragility & Service Delivery: Insights and Impact Emerging from the DAC Workstream on Service Delivery in Fragile States, 2005-2006
S. Tjip Walker, USAID
Download ppt

Conference Agenda
Preventing and Rebuilding Failed States Amid Global Economic Crisis: What are Realistic Options for U.S. Policy?
An agenda for the day's meetings, June 5th, 2009.
Download pdf

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