Building Nations after Conflict

Abstract:

Political instability in collapsed or collapsing states is one of the greatest sources of human misery. Since the end of the cold war, withinstate conflicts, such as civil wars and separatist rebellions, have caused ten times more deaths than have wars between states. The indirect, non-military consequences of internal conflict — civilian casualties, refugees, wrecked economies, famine and disease — are orders of magnitude worse than the direct, military outcomes. In Fixing Failed States, former Afghan finance minister Ashraf Ghani and development-policy expert Clare Lockhart analyse why states crumble and propose a framework for rebuilding state capability.