8246 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Sustainable Development Goals, Peacebuilding, Natural Resource
5 Jun 2018
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Where, Where Why and How to Intervene
Questions to Ask
• Did we ask ourselves what victory looks like?
• How long should be stay and meet our objectives?
• What is our strategy?
• What are our aims and objectives?
• Do we have an exit plan?
Weinberger / Powell Doctrine
• Troops should be committed only when vital national interests are threatened.
• There should be clearly defined political and military objectives.
• Military power should only be used after all other elements of power had been tried and
then only as the last resort.
• When employed military force should be the right size and used decisively with the
intent to win.
• A plausible exit strategy exists.
• There is popular domestic and broad international support.
Afghanistan: Taliban pushes into Uruzgan's Tarinkot
• Senior officials abandon government buildings and flee to outer edges of Tarinkot, the
capital of Uruzgan province.
• Roughly 80% of Helmand province is under Taliban control, according to officials.
• Fighters fought their way to within a few hundred metres of the governor's compound
and police headquarters on Thursday while gun battles spread in Tarinko, a city of
about 70,000 people said Wais Samim, the provincial police chief.
• Officials in Uruzgan have fled to the airport, which houses Afghan military base, police
officials told Al Jazeera.
• However, within hours the Afghan Ministry of Defence said the Taliban had been
repelled from Tarinkot.
Fragile States
• "… countries that face particularly grave poverty and development challenges and are
at high risk of further decline - or even failure. Government and state structures lack
the capacity (or, in some cases, the political will) to provide public safety and security,
good governance and economic growth for their citizens."
• "All fragile states are different and many reasons can cause their fragility but features
they share are weak governance, failing public institutions, instability or conflict - all
of which contribute to dismal growth prospects. People living In fragile states are more
likely to die early or suffer from chronic illnesses, and less likely to receive a basic
education or essential health services."
• The reasons to get involved are complex and various but usually include one or more of
the following:
o Instability or open conflict
o Weak administrative systems vulnerable to corruption
o Small size and geographical isolation
o Under-development - widespread poverty, lack of infrastructure and a relatively
unskilled workforce.
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• In such circumstances the role and importance of aid inevitably grows. And while aid
can do nothing to change a nation's size and geographic location, well considered long-
term aid programs that tackle core weaknesses - like poor governance, private sector
growth and infrastructure - can make a massive difference.
• Demographic Pressures
• Refugees and IDPs
• Group Grievance
• Human Flight and Brain Drain
• Uneven Economic Development
• Poverty and Economic Decline
• State Legitimacy
• Public Services
• Human Rights and the Rule of Law
• Security Apparatus
• Factionalised Elites
• External Intervention
Cause of State Failure
• Corruption 42.5%
• Lack of Basic Education 13.9%
• Poverty 12.1.%
• Group Hatred 11.3%
• Lack of Social Equity 10.1%
• External Actors 4.8%
• Malnutrition and Disease 2.3%
• Natural Disasters 1.55
• Environmental Damage 1.5%
Indicators
• Economic - asses a state's ability to provide its citizens with a stable economic
environment that facilitates sustainable and equitable growth.
• Political - asses the quality of a state's political institutions and the extent to which its
citizens accept as legitimate their system of governance.
• Security - evaluate whether a state is able to provide physical security for its citizens.
• Social welfare - how well a state meets the basic human needs of its citizens, including
nutrition, health, education and access to clean water and sanitation.
Observations
• Poverty alleviation should be given higher priority in U.S. policy, because poorer
countries tend to be weaker ones, and the consequences of state weakness can be
significant for U.S. national security.
• U.S. assistance to the world's weakest states should be increased and targeted to
address unique performance gaps in these countries.
• Among failed and critically weak states, U.S. and international efforts should focus on
improving security and, in parallel, to the extent possible, on the other drivers of
weakness.
• Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the world's highest concentration of weak and
failed states and requires increased U.S. attention and resources.
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