What is the nature of statebuilding in the context of fragile states and situations? This fact sheet from the OECD summarises the findings of a research programme initiated to deepen the international community’s knowledge and understanding of the concept of statebuilding. Statebuilding in fragile contexts is an endogenous process driven by state-society relations. In spite of its links with other kinds of economic and political development, it is a distinct and necessary process for long-term state legitimacy and effectiveness.
The OECD-DAC ‘Principles of Good International Engagement in Fragile States and Situations’ prioritise statebuilding as the central objective of international partnerships in fragile situations and in countries emerging from conflict. In 2007, it initiated a research programme into the exact nature of statebuilding in fragile situations in order to deepen understanding and draw out potential implications for international engagement. This work determined statebuilding to be:
- An endogenous process to enhance capacity, institutions, and legitimacy of the state driven by state-society relations – positive statebuilding processes involve reciprocal relations, based upon expectations, between a state that delivers services for its people and social and political groups who constructively engage with their state;
- Founded on political processes to negotiate state-society relations and power relationships among elites and social groups – resilient states must be able to manage socially inclusive processes by which power relationships and expectations are negotiated, creating a virtuous cycle of legitimacy;
- Based on minimum administrative capacity – a state requires a basic level of administrative capacity characterised by a reasonably well functioning civil service and the ability to raise funds;
- Both a descriptive (value neutral) term and a normative concept – while donors often consider statebuilding to be a positive process, it can be difficult and arduous for the population;
- A continuous process that is non-linear and asymmetrical – statebuilding is neither a programme nor a project; rather it is a long-term process of negotiation that requires commitment and will;
- Central to establishing resilience – building a responsive state engenders legitimacy that contributes to the state moving from fragility to resilience.
This conceptualisation of statebuilding has broad implications for the way international actors, and bilateral and multilateral donors in particular, can support statebuilding in fragile situations. As such, new principles and approaches need to be devised to enable international actors to engage more constructively and effectively to support statebuilding in diverse fragile situations. In crafting future statebuilding strategies, donors should incorporate the following recommendations. Statebuilding:
- Requires understanding and engaging with state-society relations at all levels of government, particularly in decentralised states;
- Is distinct from nation-building – while building a sense of common national identity is important to statebuilding, it is only one part of the process;
- Is distinct from institution-building – likewise, defining statebuilding as a technical process of institution-building is too narrow;
- Is distinct from peacebuilding – preventing conflict is a short term objective, but statebuilding involves longer term challenges as well;
- Cannot be determined by external actors, but they can support positive change while adhering to a doctrine of ‘do no harm’.
