State legitimacy matters because it transforms power into authority and provides the basis for rule by consent, rather than by coercion. In fragile situations, a lack of legitimacy undermines constructive relations between the state and society, and ...
"... Explores the connections between fragile statehood and violent conflict, and analyses the limitations of outside intervention from international society."--P. 4 of cover.
This book traces and conceptualises the changing notion of democracy and demonstrates how democracy promotion finds itself at the heart of contemporary international discourses and policies. Democracy promotion is widely considered to constitute a hypocritical and failed ‘grand international narrative’ of the 1990s and has allegedly been replaced by other, more pressing and academically more captivating concerns, such as conflict management, statebuilding and climate change. This book challenges this position and argues that the core notions of democracy promotion, such as empowerment, inclusion and responsiveness, are a key concern of contemporary international policymakers. Drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt as well as John Dewey, it investigates the notion of democracy and modality of its promotions through the policy fields of conflict management, statebuilding and climate change. The central development, the book observes, is the reconceptualisation of democracy from the constituted sphere of the public to the lived relations of the social. The book argues that the novel rationality of democracy and its promotion offers a particular solution to governing impasses in a world perceived to be globalised and complex, which accounts for democracy’s current but neglected centrality. This book will be of much interest to students of democracy, intervention, statebuilding, global governance and IR in general.
This Companion examines contemporary challenges in Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) and offers practical solutions to these problems. Bringing together chapters from new and established global scholars, the volume explores and critiques the foundations of Peace and Conflict Studies in an effort to advance the discipline in light of contemporary local and global actors. The book examines the following eight specific components of Peace and Conflict Studies: Peace and conflict studies praxis Structure–agency tension as it relates to social justice, nonviolence, and relationship building Gender, masculinity, and sexuality The role of partnerships and allies in racial, ethnic, and religious peacebuilding Culture and identity Critical and emancipatory peacebuilding International conflict transformation and peacebuilding Global responses to conflict. It argues that new critical and emancipatory peacebuilding and conflict transformation strategies are needed to address the complex cultural, economic, political, and social conflicts of the 21st century. This book will be of much interest to students of peace and conflict studies, peace studies, conflict resolution, transitional justice, reconciliation studies, social justice studies, and international relations.
Furthering the understanding of the legitimate authority in internationally-led peace-and state-building interventionsThis study focuses on understanding the complexities of legitimate authority in internationally led peace- and statebuilding interventions. Innovative theoretical approach, engaging with local and contextual forms of legitimacy in peacebuilding contexts Introduces nuanced understandings of the concept of legitimacyBased on wide ranging fieldwork and twelve case studies Broader lessons for IR and for policy-makersIncludes local authors This edited volume focuses on disentangling the interplay of local peacebuilding processes and international policy, via comparative theoretical and empirical work on the question of legitimacy and authority. Using a number of conflict-affected regions as case studies - including Kosovo, Iraq, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Sudan - the book incorporates the expertise of a range of international scholars in order to understand the dynamics of local peacebuilding, the construction of legitimate authority, and its interplay with internationally led peace- and state-building interventions. The commissioned chapters advance our understanding of local legitimacy, sustainable international engagement, and the hybrid forms of authority they produce.
The authors discuss the impact of foreign aid and tackle the question of why assessing the impact of aid is so difficult. The authors focus on peer-reviewed, cross-country studies published over the last decade and draw together some global-level assessments, considering the context and conditions under which aid might be said to ‘work’. Glennie and Sumner argue that the evidence in four areas shows signs of convergence that may have direct relevance for policy decisions on aid and for aid effectiveness discussions. These are as follows: Aid levels (meaning if aid is too low or too high); Domestic political institutions (including political stability and extent of decentralisation); Aid composition (including sectors, modalities, objectives and time horizons); and Aid volatility and fragmentation. Notably, this study finds that there is no consensus that the effectiveness of aid depends on orthodox economic policies.
This book addresses a conundrum for the international development community: The law of development cooperation poses major constraints on delivering aid where it is needed most. The existence of a state with an effective government is a basic condition for the transfer of aid, making development cooperation with ‘fragile’ nations particularly challenging. The author explores how international organizations like the World Bank have responded by adopting formal and informal rules to engage specifically with countries with weak or no governments. Von Engelhardt provides a critical analysis of the discourse on fragile states and how it has shaped the policy decision-making of international organizations. By demonstrating how perceptions of fragility can have significant consequences both in practice and in law, the work challenges conventional research that dismisses state fragility as a phenomenon beyond law. It also argues that the legal parameters for effective global policy play a crucial role, and offers a fresh approach to a topic that is central to international security and development.
This book explores how professionals and policymakers in mental and physical health care can use lessons from the COVID pandemic to better inform future public policy and treatment. Using the United States as a test case, Norbert Goldfield draws on his professional experience in healthcare and policy-making to explore how some societies have emerged from the pandemic with increasing internal conflicts. The author uses excerpts from his own COVID diary to revisit key stages in the response to the COVID pandemic to highlight where division has entered the publish health discourse, and to set out an alternative vision of how mental and physical health can be framed professionally and publicly. In addition to this account, Dr Goldfield details how our political system should change with respect to pandemics and how health professionals, together with the lay public, can help. Specifically, the book highlights the three critical issues confronting American pandemic fragility: increasing vaccinations, decreasing misinformation, and fostering greater linkages between our public and acute health systems. This book will be invaluable for all types of health care professionals, both in mental and physical health arenas, lay people interested in the pandemic, and for policymakers.
The book examines the various ways that fragile states (or states with limited statehood) in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas have adopted, and adapted to, the processes of liberal political governance in their quests to address the problem of political fragility. It presents the stories of resilience in the political adaptation to Western liberal conceptions of governance. In addition to singular or comparative country case studies, this project also examines the interplay of culture, identities, and politics in the creation of people-centric governance reforms. Towards these ends, this volume sheds light on weak states’ often constructive engagement in the promotion of state governance with a variety of political conditions, adverse or otherwise; and their ability to remain resilient despite the complex political, sociocultural, and economic challenges affecting them. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the authors aim to counter the noticeable shortcomings in the discursive representations of fragility, and to contribute a more balanced examination of the narratives about and impact of political adaption and governance in people’s lives and experiences.