ACADEMIC PAPERS & REPORTS
September 25, 2007
Ibrahim Index of African Governance
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution and Rachel Gisselquist, Former Research Director (2007-2009), Index of African Governance
Strengthening African governance is the goal of a new ranking system that has been developed. The Index draws heavily on pioneering work by Robert I. Rotberg, Director of the Belfer Center's Program on Intrastate Conflict.
April 2007
"Military Interventions and the 'Lessons of Iraq'"
PS: Political Science and Politics, issue 2, volume XL
By Stephen Watts, Former Research Fellow and Associate, Intrastate Conflict Program/International Security Program, 2006-2007
"The disastrous invasion of Iraq has shed a stark light on the
limitations of military interventions. Much of the ensuing
skepticism is quite healthy. But there is a risk that 'the lessons
of Iraq' will be learnt to the exclusion of lessons that can be
drawn from the more than two dozen other interventions of the
post-Cold War era...."
April, 2007
Nigeria Elections and Continuing Challenges
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
Spring 2007
"Getting Religion? The Puzzling Case of Islam and Civil War"
International Security, issue 4, volume 31
By Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs
This article argues that overlapping historical, geographical and, in particular, structural factors together with an absence of an internecine religious war, the proximity of Islam’s holiest sites to Israel, large petroleum reserves, and jihad account for Islam’s higher representation in civil wars.
January 29, 2007
The New Culture of Innovation: Africa in the Age of Technological Opportunities
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
Winter 2006/07
"Warlordism in Comparative Perspective"
International Security, issue 3, volume 31
When failed states are ruled by warlords, it impedes the development of stable and secure societies, thwarts economic growth, and threatens international security. The rise and fall of warlordism in Republican China and medieval Europe shows that states can eventually emerge and create successful governments. Warlords remain in power by monopolizing a weak state's limited resources. The international community's attempts to buy off the warlords in Somalia and Afghanistan thus have been particularly counterproductive. Instead, external actors should work with aggrieved citizen groups to motivate them to rise up and create stable, functioning central governments.
Winter 2006/07
"Governance without Government in Somalia: Spoilers, State Building, and the Politics of Coping"
International Security, issue 3, volume 31
By Ken Menkhaus
When states fail to provide their citizens with security and rule of law, local and regional actors must step in to fill the void. Such intervention provides a temporary solution, but as time passes warlords and other groups can and do gain some degree of legitimacy, which further prevents a functioning central government from emerging. Somalia in particular faces serious challenges of state revival. Its weak transitional federal government could, however, explore a mediated state model, which—though problematic—might be the "best bad option" for Somalia.
Winter 2006/07
"When Good Fences Make Bad Neighbors: Fixed Borders, State Weakness, and International Conflict"
International Security, issue 3, volume 31
By Boaz Atzili, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2006-2008
Since the end of World War II, the international community has regarded territorial conquest and annexation as illegitimate. The resulting norm of fixed borders has reduced external threats to the territorial integrity of many states, but such threats once drove leaders to engage in constructive state building. This norm, therefore, actually does more harm than good in weak states by eliminating incentives to reduce their internal weaknesses. Weak states are now a major source of global violence, generating civil wars that often spill over into interstate conflicts. The war in the Congo is a leading example.
Associated Press
Winter 2007
"Darfur"
YES
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
The murderous civil war in Darfuris four years’ old.Washington has called it genocide. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan showed equal concern and passion about daily killing there. More than 200,000 Darfurians have already lost their lives. As many as 2 million people have lost their homes and been forced into refugee or transit camps. Millions have been raped. Yet, effectively, the world continues to do nothing.
Winter 2007
On Improving Nation-State Governance
Daedalus
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
Good governance is essential if citizens of nation-states or subordinate political jurisdictions seek to maximize their inalienable rights assubjects, taxpayers, or mere residents of the polities to which they owe or are compelled to pay allegiance.
