Research
Governance, peacebuilding and statebuilding
Our research into governance aims to unravel the processes that generate fragile and failing states across the world, and work out what may be needed to generate and support successful programmes of state-building accompanied by equitable economic development.
This work is carried out in a number of ways. A significant part of the CRU governance research is based on detailed analysis, complemented by field research, of countries where states are failing to meet their basic obligations in security, development and political inclusion.
The research, which includes work in Central America, Africa, the Balkans and Pakistan, examines the historical origins of state weakness, and stresses the way interest groups and systems of incentives undermine the internationally-supported efforts to build strong and responsive states. These challenges can take the shape of insurgent challenges to the state, territorial predation by militias or semi-state structures, parallel and criminal structures in the state, or patrimonial networks that undermine the objectives of equitable development and frustrate progress in social welfare.
CRU’s work also seeks to contribute to the policy debate in the Dutch Foreign Ministry, United Nations, the European Union, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and bilateral donors over how the international community can respond to these hard cases for foreign assistance. The governance cluster has looked at the role of peace agreements in establishing structures for future state-building, the significance of the judicial system in building concepts of citizenry, and the importance of deciding on the right priorities for foreign assistance in different contexts. We are also engaged in looking at the political obstacles to economic reconstruction in post-conflict environments, and how the policy tools of the international community might do more to help pull these countries out of poverty.
The cluster also seeks to contribute to public debate on these issues through work in the media, presentations, and regular analysis of governance issues in ongoing conflict zones.