FIRST STEPS IN POST- CONFLICT STATEBUILDING: ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES FOR STATEBUILDING Danida Development Days 8 th June 2010 Katarina Ammitzboell

Avoidance of conceptual confusion Nation-building: Creating ownership to the country. Effective citizenry State-building: Constructing a democratic state exercising legitimate and effective authority throughout its territory Good governance: Building credible and efficient management capacity of government Different focus from “peacebuilding” Less ambitious than “nationbuilding”

Post-conflict statebuilding as an unexplored field  Lots of experience (especially since 1990)  Limited analysis but some new work:  Presentation based on experience with statebuilding by hand and three studies NUPI, UNU and UNDP

Five functional domains - what is critical?  Security  Political governance  Economic governance  Administrative governance  Judicial governance

Security  Monopoly over means of violence  Reintegration (the R in DDR as the hardest)  Humanitarian assistance  Ongoing security (police & military)

Political governance  “Operating rules of the game”  Interim rules (peace accords?)  Permanent constitution  Legitimizing national election  the main transition line?  Civil society & media  When to hand over sovereignty?

Constitutinal Loya jirga 2004 Kabul

Economic governance  Basic market formation  Providing goods for sale  Employment generation  Creating buyers for the goods  Public finance  Viable state resources  State asset management  Natural resources

Administrative governance  Civil service  meeting the payroll  launching reform  Infrastructure provision  State service delivery  the INGO temptation  Human capital investment  reestablish  cover rural areas

Judicial governance  Truth & reconciliation  recognition of misdeeds  Rule of law  civil law  criminal law  traditional justice

Replacing bullets with ballots no guarantee for succesfull statebuilding Maybe state legitimacy but credibility ? Fast political sovereignty - many ’pitfalls’ - risks of giving way international influence - risks of creating unintended culture of impunity - risk of weakening the state before it is build!

Political liberalisation – case  Maximum approach  Risk:  Unintended consequences of deep-seated UN/international involvement  Excessive demands on time and expertise  Inconsistency between intentions versus planning skills and implementation  Funding shortages  The ‘laundry list’ syndrome  Minimum approach  Risks:  Destabilising a fragile power sharing  Compromising standards and neglect of capacity building  Lack of time to conduct meaningful civic eduation and to foster local ownership  Risk of creating a weak government

”Politics is the knowledge of lying, cheating, fraud, and using power in an illegal way to threaten people. Most Afghans dislike the word ‘politics’ because the politicians have made life hard for people for over 25 years. They have not forgotten. ” Afghan student, October 2005

Phases of post-conflict statebuilding 1. The first 4-5 months Stabilisation & setting the framework 2. Up to months working on all fronts (but not on everything) building toward transition 3. Post-turnover long-term challenges

Prioritizing core functions: opportunity windows 1. Peace accords – fostering ownership 2. Harmonising and coordination of mandates and obligations 3. Needs assessment -- nationals & internationals 4. Periodic progress reviews – don’t be afraid of taking a step back

Analytical challenges  The nature of transitions  Comprehensive state- building requirements  Fostering national leadership and civic culture  Need for guidelines and strategies?  The importance of inclusion and ownership  Institututionalisation whilst gradual political liberalisation  Risk assessment of interventions and programmes