R4D Fragile States

APPP Working Paper No. 22. Muslim public schools in post-conflict D.R. Congo: New hybrid institutions in a weak state

Tue, 15 May 2012 04:47 GMT

Document Type: Working Paper
Creator: Leinweber, A.E.

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Leinweber, A.E. APPP Working Paper No. 22. Muslim public schools in post-conflict D.R. Congo: New hybrid institutions in a weak state. Africa Power and Politics Programme (APPP), Overseas Development Institute, London, UK (2012) 26 pp.

Summary: Since the Democratic Republic (D.R.) of Congo has long been hailed a classic example of state failure, one might imagine that the plethora of public goods being provided by non-state actors in the post-war period is the result of such actors stepping in to fill the void left by a deficient state unable to provide for its own citizens. In reality, however, the situation is much more complex. The Congolese state, following the Belgian model, has a long history of encouraging faith based organizations, and the Catholic Church in particular, to be the primary providers of education. After President Mobutu, the dictator for over three decades, launched a failed attempt in the 1970s to take back control of the education system for the state, he reached a compromise by creating the ‘convention’ system. This hybrid system allows the state to maintain control of the education system, while religious organizations are responsible for the day-to-day operation of schools. Though Christian groups have been running schools for several decades, the post-war period has seen the development of a new hybrid institution in the form of Islamic public schools. The minority Muslim population of Congo has historically been known for its quiescence and detachment from most public sectors, but empirical evidence from fieldwork reveals that the community has begun collaborating with the Congolese state to provide public education in recent years, and is doing so very effectively. This study argues that this has been possible because of a shift in historic tensions within the Muslim community itself, while this moment in post-conflict Congolese history presents an opportunity as the state is too weak to govern on its own, yet is also increasingly democratic and allows access to previously marginalized groups, such as the Muslim minority. Therefore, the provision of education in post-conflict D.R. Congo is an example of hybrid governance, requiring the cooperation and resources of both the Congolese state and religious organizations.

Anti-developmental patrimonialism in Zimbabwe

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:14 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Dawson, M.; Kelsall, T.

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Dawson, M.; Kelsall, T. Anti-developmental patrimonialism in Zimbabwe. Journal of Contemporary African Studies (2012) 30 (1) 49-66. [Special Issue: Progress in Zimbabwe] [DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2012.643010]

Summary: Research on investment climates and economic growth in developing countries is shifting from institutional ‘best practices’ towards ways in which developmentally successful regimes make use of economic rents. After discussing rent flows in Zimbabwe's history, the paper concludes that the country exhibits a pattern of centralised, short-term rent utilisation, with disastrous results, showing that the centralisation of rent-management by itself does not indicate a ‘developmental patrimonialism’.

This is an abridged version of M. Dawson and T. Kelsall (2011) Anti-developmental Patrimonialism in Zimbabwe. Working Paper 19: Africa Power and Politics Programme.

The media of Afghanistan: The challenges of transition. Policy Briefing No. 5.

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:33 GMT

Document Type: Briefing
Creator: Page, D.; Siddiqi, S.

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Page, D.; Siddiqi, S. The media of Afghanistan: The challenges of transition. Policy Briefing No. 5. BBC Media Action, London, UK (2012) 28 pp.

Summary: The media of Afghanistan, like all other sections of Afghanistan society, is undergoing transition. This briefing examines what transition might mean for a sector that has the potential to shape Afghan opinion and hold government to account but now faces considerable uncertainty. It comprises 6 parts:
Part 1 provides a brief overview of how Afghanistan’s media landscape has been transformed over the past decade.
Part 2 examines the effects of this transformation on Afghanistan’s culture and politics as media reflect the struggle between tradition and modernity.
Part 3 looks at the status and pressures facing journalism in the country.
Part 4 examines the role of donors in support to the Afghan media and the implications of a reduction in such support.
Part 5 examines the shortage of independent national media and the challenges faced by Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA).
Part 6 looks to the future and provides some conclusions drawn from the analysis.

Social accountability in situations of conflict and fragility

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 05:42 GMT

Document Type: Briefing
Creator: Schouten, C.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Schouten, C. Social accountability in situations of conflict and fragility. U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, CMI, Bergen, Norway (2011) 4 pp. [U4 Brief, December 2011, No 19]

Summary: Donor support to social accountability in fragile and conflict-affected states is a relatively new phenomenon. It has emerged with the lessons that top-down anti-corruption approaches have often failed and different approaches are needed to improve state accountability to its people. With increasing support to fragile and conflict-affected states, donors should focus their efforts to: identify and support local accountability measures; strengthen partnerships across sectors, as well as demographic and geographic divides; and support collaborative governance and capacity building to strengthen the social contract between state and society in the wake of crisis.

China and conflict-affected states – between principle and pragmatism. Sudan and South Sudan case study.

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 03:02 GMT

Document Type: Case Study
Creator: Attree, L.

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Attree, L. China and conflict-affected states – between principle and pragmatism. Sudan and South Sudan case study. Saferworld, (2012) 45 pp.

Summary: The South Sudan and Sudan case study is excerpted from a full-length report published by Saferworld that focuses upon China’s role in conflict-affected contexts. The case study focuses on China’s engagement, analysing its impacts on peace and conflict dynamics between Sudan and South Sudan, and internal to South Sudan. It is structured to provide an overview of peace and conflict dynamics in Sudan and South Sudan (section 5.2) and international engagement in the two states (section 5.3), before turning to a more detailed analysis of China’s engagement (section 5.4). Building on this analysis, section 5.5 then offers conclusions and policy implications. In the wake of South Sudan’s independence in July 2011, it pays particular attention to the views of stakeholders in South Sudan regarding China’s past engagement and opportunities for its successful future engagement in a challenging but potentially rewarding context.

China and conflict-affected states – between principle and pragmatism. China's approach case study.

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 02:48 GMT

Document Type: Case Study
Creator: Butler, D.M.; Wheeler, T.

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Butler, D.M.; Wheeler, T. China and conflict-affected states – between principle and pragmatism. China's approach case study. Saferworld, (2012) 20 pp.

Summary: This overview of China’s approach to conflict-affected states is excerpted from a full-length report published by Saferworld that focuses on China’s role in three contexts: Sri Lanka, Nepal and South Sudan – Sudan. Broadly surveying Chinese foreign policy principles and praxis, this case study identifies trends and patterns in China’s engagement with conflict-affected states, discerning here an evolving, though chiefly pragmatic orientation, balancing “official rhetorical rigidity” with “limited flexibility”.

China and conflict-affected states – between principle and pragmatism

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 02:34 GMT

Document Type: Report
Creator: Campbell, I.; Wheeler, T.; Attree, L.; Butler, D.M.; Mariani, B.

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Campbell, I.; Wheeler, T.; Attree, L.; Butler, D.M.; Mariani, B. China and conflict-affected states – between principle and pragmatism. Saferworld, (2012) 143 pp.

Summary: We are witnessing a “revolution in the global order” and China is leading this revolution. In the West, analysts and policy makers are grappling with what China’s rise means for international relations and the spectrum of foreign policy concerns. In China itself policy makers are also coming to terms with this new found influence and the responsibilities that come with it. A critical issue will be what happens as China and other rising powers make their presence increasingly felt in countries where peace is precarious. The risk is that conflict issues may be aggravated, leading to instability and even the return of violent conflict. But equally, China’s increasing engagement offers opportunities to consolidate peace.

This report is one of the main outputs of a 12-month research project that examined the implications for peace and stability of China’s increasing engagement in conflict-affected states. The report is based on research in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sudan and South Sudan, and contributes to the evidence base about how China’s rise will affect conflict-affected states. It is meant not only to raise awareness, but also to encourage policy makers to engage with the new realities, including how they can respond to the changing context for international efforts to promote peace and stability.

The report includes in-depth case studies of the specific contexts of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sudan and South Sudan. These can also be downloaded as separate documents.

Are those factors considered by the anglophone literature as being critical to state-building and peace-building also considered critical by the francophone literature?: a rapid evidence assessment prepared by the DFID Research Uptake Team.

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:08 GMT

Document Type: Literature Review
Creator: Evans, W.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Evans, W. Are those factors considered by the anglophone literature as being critical to state-building and peace-building also considered critical by the francophone literature?: a rapid evidence assessment prepared by the DFID Research Uptake Team. DFID, London, UK (2011) 37 pp.

Summary:

The current survey identifies a number of dominant themes in francophone academic considerations of state fragility, state-building and peace-building. It also offers a general evaluation of the quality of research from which these themes are drawn. The survey includes a brief summary of key policy statements on state fragility from France. The paper will enable DFID researchers, policy planners and Conflict/Governance Advisers to frame their own knowledge of this field in the context of the francophone academic approach to it, and familiarise themselves with the basics of France’s policy on state fragility.

Building Peaceful States and Societies – DFID Practice Paper: A Literature Review. Paper 1: Political Settlements, Peace Settlements, and Inclusion.

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:03 GMT

Document Type: Literature Review
Creator: Evans, W.

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Evans, W. Building Peaceful States and Societies – DFID Practice Paper: A Literature Review. Paper 1: Political Settlements, Peace Settlements, and Inclusion. DFID, London, UK (2012) 28 pp.

Summary:

This paper is one of four exploring and analysing the evidence that underpins DFID’s 2010 "Building Peaceful States and Societies" Practice Paper, referred to hereafter as the 'PB/SB (Peace-Building/State-Building) framework'. Taking each of the PB/SB framework's four guiding objectives, it appraises and synthesises the cited research evidence in that framework to offer guidance on the degree to which the core concepts and propositions are 'evidence based'. In some cases, it introduces additional evidence to place core concepts in their wider context. The paper was commissioned by DFID’s Fragile States Policy Team, and is intended to contribute to ongoing efforts to refine DFID policy on fragile and conflict-affected states and ensure that it is evidence based.

Although the four key objectives of the PB/SB framework are interdependent, for practical purposes, this series of papers addresses each separately. The current paper considers PB/SB framework Objective 2, "Support inclusive political settlements and processes."

Key Findings
1. The PB/SB framework’s consideration of elites, and their criticality to the political settlement, is based on a substantial body of persuasive research;

2. A combination of conceptual research and empirical evidence seems to support the claim that peacebuilding and state-building is underpinned by the formation of inclusive political settlements, where the political settlement refers to the elite bargains at its heart;

3. The evidence relating to the ability of non-elites (i.e. wider society) to shape the political settlement is typically more empirical, but also more mixed. Based on the research surveyed, non-elites’ capacity to change political settlements is uncertain. Even so, the PB/SB displays sufficient caution in its treatment of state-society relations to be adjudged as being consistent with the contested nature of the research evidence on this issue;

4. The PB/SB fails to adequately consider the historical process of institutional change in its treatment of political settlements. Greater understanding of this process is required in order to appreciate why wider society’s inclusion in the political settlement is often so difficult to achieve;

5. Whilst this study suggests that many of the core components of the PB/SB framework are based on research findings, the framework is generally inadequately supported by footnotes and references demonstrating exactly which research evidence underpins particular concepts;

6. The adoption of an evidence grading tool in order to assess the quality of research papers has been partially successful. The tool has helped identify research findings which are clearly empirical from those that are not, and has enabled the differentiation of good empirical papers from weaker ones. On the other hand, the validity of a significant body of non-empirical political science studies which informed the PB/SB, and which the current study adjudges to be useful, cannot be demonstrated by the evidence grading tool used. Further consideration of how to assess the quality of political science research is required.

Targeting accuracy and impact of a community-identified waiver card scheme for primary care user fees in Afghanistan

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:20 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Steinhardt, L. C.; Peters, D. H.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: Steinhardt, L. C.; Peters, D. H. Targeting accuracy and impact of a community-identified waiver card scheme for primary care user fees in Afghanistan. International Journal for Equity in Health (2010) 9 (1) 28. [DOI: 10.1186/1475-9276-9-28]

Summary: Background
User fees are a known common barrier to using health services, particularly among the poor. When fees are present, many facilities have waiver systems for poor patients to exempt them from paying. Targeting waivers to patients who need them most has been a challenge, especially in fragile states, where relevant data are limited and trust in institutions is low. Methods
Community-based targeting of vulnerable households was piloted in Afghanistan and evaluated for its feasibility, accuracy and effect on care-seeking. Waiver cards were distributed to very poor and female-headed households in catchment areas of 26 facilities in 10 provinces of Afghanistan in 2005 as one component of a larger health financing study. Households were nominated by community leaders using general guidelines to support 15% of the poorest members. In most cases, waiver cards were pro-actively distributed to them. Targeting accuracy, perceptions, as well the cards' effects on utilization were evaluated in 2007 through household surveys, health facility data, and in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with facility staff and community leaders. Results
The waiver system was implemented quickly at all but one facility charging fees. Facility staff and community leaders reported favorable perceptions of implementation and targeting accuracy. However, an analysis of the asset index of beneficiaries indicated that although targeting was progressive, significant leakage and high levels of under-coverage occurred; 42% of cards were used by people in the wealthiest three quintiles, and only 19% of people in the poorest quintile received a card. Households with waiver cards reported higher rates of care-seeking for recent illnesses compared to those without cards (p = 0.02). Conclusions
Community identification of beneficiaries is feasible in a fragile state. Several recommendations are discussed to improve targeting accuracy of a waiver card system in the future, in light of this research and other international experiences.