Conflict, Security and Development
The Challenge
Violent conflict and state fragility are major development challenges: conflict causes misery, destroys communities and infrastructure, and can cripple economic prospects. A quarter of states eligible for assistance from the International Development Association (IDA) are experiencing conflict, and poverty rates in these countries are far worse than in IDA countries as a whole. Many other IDA countries are considered fragile, and thereby at risk of violent conflict. Nor is conflict confined to poor countries: a number of middle- and high-income nations are affected by severe sub-national and crime-related violence. Conflict does not respect borders, with serious spillovers from conflict-affected countries contributing to regional destabilization, globalized terrorism, drug trafficking and refugee flows.
Addressing Conflict and Fragility
Building peaceful nation-states which respond to the aspirations of their citizens takes strong leadership, both international and domestic. The international community has an important role to play in assisting countries to avoid, contain and recover from conflict, and the recent past demonstrates how much can be achieved when global and national incentives align, and program implementation is appropriately designed and well-managed. Too often, though, efforts have failed to decisively address the motives and opportunities which help to mobilize violent conflict; to integrate political, security and development approaches; or to align local, national, regional and global actions. As a result, some areas have seen new waves of conflict and violence in recent years and some “post-conflict countries” have not yet managed to make a decisive shift to successful and stable development.
The goal of the World Development Report 2011 is to contribute concrete, practical suggestions to the debate on how to address conflict and fragility. Since solutions involve cooperation between a wide variety of actors at local, national, regional and global levels, the WDR process will invest considerable effort in reaching out to a range of different players and communities . ...Read more/less
The report will discuss:
- Trends, Causes, Consequences: The WDR will review key thinking on the evolution of violent conflict and fragility and on its causes; it will also assess the human and economic devastation caused by various types of conflict.
- Key Ingredients of Successful short and Medium Term Responses:Among the key contributors to stability and prosperity are strong leadership, popular legitimacy, and policy approaches which can successfully integrate security, justice, voice and opportunities for economic advancement. The WDR will analyze the evolution of policies designed to address conflict and fragility, and will assess the extent to which they have been effective in helping prevent or resolve conflict. This involves paying particular attention to:
.Short-term confidence building in the political, development and social spheres. While each context is different and there is no blueprint, the WDR will look for general lessons on short terms actions which help to generate confidence (and, importantly, those which undermine confidence); adaptation of programs to political goals; and delivery of results on the ground in decentralised locations.
.Medium-term confidence building to prevent risks of lapse or relapse through institutional and state-building approaches. To facilitate a long-term exit from fragility and sustain peace and development, two elements emerge as requiring further consideration. These are building the institutions which can sustain productive citizen-state engagement, and decreasing the opportunity to mobilize financial, human and other resources for purposes of conflict, crime and violence.
- Gaps in Policy and Implementation, and Proposed Remedies: Among the issues likely to be addressed are more effective ways to support responsible local leadership, develop conflict prevention strategies at both national and regional levels, improve coordination between policy communities (in particular, security, state-building and development actors), nurture institutions suited to specific local contexts, implement critical but under-funded interventions and focus attention on the decentralized provision of basic services and economic opportunities.
In addition to reviewing the state of research and policy-formation on fragility and conflict, the WDR will research a series of case studies of historical and ongoing conflicts. Given the multiplicity of stakeholders, several complimentary approaches will be used to ensure that a sufficient number of actors are consulted over the 12-month WDR cycle. The consultation process takes account of the progressive engagement on these issues by the regional institutions and middle income countries, which now play important roles in conflict response, peace-keeping and state-building.
- A WDR Advisory Council will be formed to offer guidance and comment on emerging WDR thinking; the Council will consist of leaders and individuals of global repute from countries and organizations across the globe.
- While carrying out case studies, the WDR team will hold a series of in-field roundtables and colloquia, thereby capturing a broad spectrum of informed local experience and opinion.
- A series of expert brainstorming sessions will be held in locations in different regions, to which prominent academics, practitioners, policy-makers and civil society representatives will be invited in order to share their knowledge and discuss WDR perspectives.
- The WDR team will interact intensively with international and bilateral organizations involved in peacekeeping, state-building and the economic development of fragile and conflict-affected states, including the United Nations, regional political and economic organizations, international financial institutions, NGOs and the private sector. This will help the WDR reflect new interagency approaches to conflict and fragility.
