Meeting the challenges of crisis states

This report sums up six years of research by the Crisis States Research Centre.   Authors James Putzel and Jonathan Di John underline the fact that aid and other forms of external intervention need to be better directed in the so-called "fragile states" of the developing world.   The authors argue that confusion permeates Western aid programmes in countries where states either face escalating violent challenges or are attempting reconstruction and state-building in the wake of war.

The report, which includes country and city case studies in Africa, Asia and Latin America and analysis of regional conflict trends, looks into the drivers of violent conflict in the developing world and why some states and cities have fared better than others in avoiding large-scale violence or in rebuilding public and private organisations after war. It highlights policy-relevant findings under seven thematic chapters.

The report supports DFID’s new policy of putting resources into the creation of taxation capacity in the states receiving UK development assistance. Taxation is a key indicator for measuring state performance and taxation can be deployed to promote investment in sectors with developmental potential.

Crisis States Research Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science 2012

The Crisis States Research Network is based at the LSE Department of International Development.  It has grown out of the work of the Crisis States Research Centre, which was a project undertaking interdisciplinary research into processes of war, state collapse and reconstruction in fragile states, under the directorship of Prof James Putzel.