Peace and Development : Democratization, Poverty and Risk Mitigation in Fragile and Post-conflict States; final technical report

Date

2011-12

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University

Abstract

The social sciences literature and policymakers often take for granted that positive developmental outcomes, including poverty reduction, risk mitigation and democratization, are mutually reinforcing. Yet the empirical evidence is still ambiguous, particularly for post-conflict and fragile states. To help fill this void, the study addresses three sets of related issues: 1) Power sharing for Peacebuilding and Development; 2) Participatory Governance and Service Provision; and 3) The Economic Agenda for Post-Conflict Reconstruction. The project consists of two component parts: The first includes 5 papers exploring the three sets of issues, with a focus on their larger theoretical aspects and empirical trends. The second component of the project includes detailed case studies that also address the same sets of issues in seven cases: Bosnia, Colombia, Lebanon, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Sudan. A multidisciplinary team consisting of an economist and a political scientist or sociologist wrote each case study. This overall structure is intended to help ensure that that the case studies inform the development of macro-level theory, at the same time that the theory provides a strong foundation to maximize the coherence of the overall study and the comparability of findings from the seven case studies. The project has the particular strength of developing a new, multi-disciplinary, cross-regional research network that will have the additional benefit of using both sophisticated quantitative and rigorous qualitative research methodologies. The group of Southern and Northern researchers involved in the project also has considerable ties with the policy communities, both nationally and internationally, increasing the project’s potential for generating policy change by helping to ensure that the project’s findings are relevant to potential stakeholders and more politically viable in Southern countries. Ultimately, the project will serve as a model for developing effective North-South and South-South research collaboration.

Description

Keywords

POWER SHARING, DEMOCRACY, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, POST-CONFLICT STATES, FRAGILE STATES, DECENTRALIZATION, FISCAL POLICY IN POST-CONFLICT AND FRAGILE STATES, SOUTH-SOUTH AND NORTH-SOUTH DIALOGUE, POVERTY ALLEVIATION, DEMOCRATIZATION, CONFLICT RESOLUTION, SOUTH-SOUTH RELATIONS, NORTH-SOUTH RELATIONS

Citation

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