Greater than the Sum of Its Parts?, a new book published by the International Peace Academy and written by Center for Global Development research fellow Stewart Patrick and program associate Kaysie Brown, looks at how seven governments — the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, France and Sweden — are seeking to rise to this challenge.

They find that "whole of government" approaches remain a work in progress. Despite a few promising innovations and pilot projects, individual governments continue to struggle in their efforts to define the purposes of policy integration; to formulate a strategic vision to guide their efforts; to create robust structures of coordination; to create new funding streams tailored to the conditions of fragile states; to build critical civilian capabilities to address priority post-conflict needs; and to evaluate the impact of new strategies and policies. The authors offer practical recommendations for how donor governments can improve their engagement with fragile states

Foreword by Terje Rød-Larsen
President, International Peace Academy

The International Peace Academy is pleased to publish Greater than the Sum of Its Parts?—Assessing “Whole of Government” Approaches to Fragile States, by Stewart Patrick and Kaysie Brown.

The impetus for this trend is clear: Fragile states are at once a major development challenge and a leading source of transnational threats to global security. Through sometimes painful experience, donors have also come to recognize that the security, governance, and development challenges of these troubled countries are highly interconnected. To advance reform, prevent state failure, and promote peace and recovery in war-torn states, donors need to employ the entire panoply of policy instruments at their disposal. In short, stove-piped policy responses are “out,” integrated approaches are “in.”

At the same time, this rhetorical commitment to “whole of government” approaches conceals fundamental dilemmas and difficult choices in the quest for policy coherence. As this book makes clear, individual donor governments are still struggling to develop a strategic approach to state fragility; to define the goals of their national policies; to agree on departmental divisions of labor and coordination mechanisms; to mobilize adequate resources to meet the challenge of fragile states; to harmonize their approaches with other donors; to align their efforts with host governments; and to monitor and evaluate the impact of their policy interventions.

This book explores the challenges of policy coherence in fragile states by analyzing the recent experiences of seven leading donors: the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada,Australia, Germany, France, and Sweden. These case studies underscore the tensions inherent in efforts to reconcile the priorities and time frames of foreign, defense, and development ministries—and the difficulty of achieving “joined-up” responses that can simultaneously address goals of poverty alleviation, accountable governance, stability and security in fragile states.The book provides an incisive complement to the recently released OECD/DAC report on whole of government approaches. It candidly addresses shortcomings in existing donor strategies, mechanisms, and arrangements, while also calling attention to promising institutional developments, such as the UK’s conflict pools.

This volume is aimed at a wide audience. It is of clear interest to the development community, which has long been preoccupied with the issue of policy coherence and the challenges of aid effectiveness in difficult environments. But it will also be of interest to the broader foreign policy and national security communities, which are increasingly preoccupied with the challenges of building effective states in some of the most volatile and conflict-ridden parts of the world.We hope that this book injects new ideas and a sober realism into ongoing discussions about how to bridge gaps among the development, defense, and diplomatic communities.

The research and publication of this report would not have been possible without generous support provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).We would particularly like to express our gratitude to Steve Del Rosso of the Carnegie Corporation, Natasha Smith of AusAID, and IPA’s core funders.

Download Greater Than the Sum Of Its Parts? Assessing "Whole of Government" Approaches to Fragile States

PDF format, 1.55MB, provided by cgdev.org.

By Stewart Patrick,  Kaysie Brown
© 2007 by International Peace Academy

International Peace Academy (IPA) is an independent international institution dedicated to promoting the prevention and settlement of armed conflicts between and within states through policy research and development.

Introduction:

Fragile states represent both the crux of today’s development challenge and an increasing source of potential threats to global security.1 Experience suggests that efforts to bolster, reform, or reconstruct such countries must simultaneously address security and stability, good governance, and development needs.To do so effectively, donors must draw on a wide range of capabilities and instruments spanning traditionally independent spheres of diplomacy, development, and defense (the 3Ds), as well as trade, finance, intelligence, and others. Moreover, these elements of engagement should be consciously aligned so as to be mutually reinforcing.

The current policy attention to weak and failing states reflects the confluence of two principal sets of concerns related to development and security. First, the international development community, including the bilateral donors of the OECD, the World Bank, and UN agencies, has come to recognize that standard development principles and practice are often of limited utility in engaging a subset of poorly performing developing countries that lack either the political commitment or the practical capacity to deliver basic services and pro-poor policies. Countries such as Afghanistan, Haiti, Liberia, and Yemen tend to suffer from low or negative levels of development and poor governance, and (in many cases) are mired in violent conflict. According to the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), nearly onethird of aid recipients live in fragile states.2 Such states often receive less assistance than better performing developing countries, reinforcing their marginalization and contributing to the phenomenon of “aid orphans.”3 The World Bank and OECD donors have
struggled to find effective ways to engage such “difficult partners.”

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About the Authors:

Stewart Patrick is a Research Fellow at the Center for Global Development and a Professorial Lecturer at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. He joined CGD from the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, where he helped formulate US policy on Afghanistan as well as a range of global and transnational challenges. Dr. Patrick is a current member and former international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he was research associate at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University.

Among other writings, he is co-author and co-editor of Multilateralism and US Foreign Policy: Ambivalent Engagement, and Good Intentions: Pledges of Aid for Post-Conflict Recovery.

Kaysie Brown is a Program Associate at the Center for Global Development, where she studies fragile states. Before joining CGD, she was a senior program officer at the International Peace Academy in New York, where her research focused on natural resources and conflict, security sector reform, and rule of law efforts in peace operations.

Ms. Brown has published numerous articles on topics such as legacies of war economies in post-conflict peacebuilding, police reform in the South Pacific, and rule of law initiatives in UN peace operations. She received her Masters degree from Oxford University.

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