Crucial social and cultural elements underpin state institutions and ensure that they function. This is especially important to understand in ‘fragile’ settings. This paper argues that conventional perspectives need to be broadened beyond tangible dimensions of state resilience, institutions and statebuilding to include intangible dimensions. International actors need to gain an understanding of the relationships, structures and belief systems that underpin institutions, and of the multiplicity and diversity of political institutions, cultures, and logics through which statebuilding processes may be supported.
Informal dimensions may be as important as formal ones in statebuilding. Notions such as ‘civic’ trust and legitimacy of the state are now widely considered as central to the functioning of a state and the sustainability of peace. Legitimacy may sometimes derive from the efficiency of the state, but it also requires a number of socio-political processes, such as participation and accountability. These include intangible components related to collective values, beliefs, perceptions and expectations attached to the state. The same applies to the perceptions of justice and the rule of law, security or economic recovery and development. These values, beliefs, perceptions and expectations are contextual – shaped by historical and cultural processes.
The integration of intangible dimensions would allow better consideration of local capacities and resources, which would counter the impression of ‘vacuum’ or ‘chaos’ often attributed to fragile countries. In the security sector, for example, there are local mechanisms to address demobilisation and reintegration of former soldiers. In Mozambique, mediums and traditional healers helped with the peaceful reintegration of former combatants and former child soldiers through purification rituals involving the whole community. Cleansing ceremonies and rituals fulfil broader functions which are important for the psychosocial and political resilience of both the individuals concerned and society at large. It is an important to recognise, however, that not everything ‘local’ or ‘traditional’ is necessarily ‘good’. In particular, traditional and informal mechanisms may have been tainted in the process of violence and war.
The international community has increasingly recognised the importance of more holistic approaches, including the incorporation of local mechanisms. International programmes now need to move more decisively towards greater consideration of and support for the intangible, qualitative dimensions of state resilience and statebuilding. There needs to be:
- Greater financial support for detailed empirical social research on fragile situations to address knowledge deficits.
- Additional attention to programmes that specifically support individuals and communities in their effort to transform their values, belief systems, behaviour and relationships so that they can support lasting peace.
- Recognition that common statebuilding activities have a significant impact on society’s intangible dimensions. Revising or drafting a Constitution, for example, impacts on identities, civic trust, norms and values, and perceptions of political community.
- Improvement in every step of the design and management of aid programmes (particularly in pre-assessment and monitoring).
- Greater engagement with local societies and support for local ownership. Mechanisms need to be put in place to reach out concretely to local citizens, involving them in the process and giving them oversight roles.
