Evidence Brief: Aid Challenges in Fragile States

Foreign assistance is hampered by ineffective governments in fragile states, but state building may require more effort to work through rather than around governments.

Key Points: 

• Development is hampered and foreign assistance is ineffective in fragile states lacking well-functioning governments capable of performing the basic tasks of public administration. Moreover, the weakness of fragile-state governments is a seedbed for civil war and violent conflict, which frequently represent a catastrophe for development.
• UN and other peacekeeping operations often succeed in checking hostilities. When combined with development aid, these interventions sometimes give fragile states a chance to progress. But the model of peacekeeping that developed in the 1990s is increasingly hard to apply in the regions with the most armed conflict. Further, in the most fragile states peacekeeping operations have not by themselves enabled state building.
• State building may require more eff ort by development aid organizations to work through rather than around fragile-state governments, encouraging local authorities to set priorities and plans, while monitoring for abuses. The medium-run goal should be to build a cadre of technocrats who can lead the state-building effort.