The global policy discourse and the war on terror tend to ignore the wide variety of roles and agendas of non-state armed groups (NSAGs), viewing them primarily as threats to security, negative for peace and as important spoilers that can undermine successful peace building. They tend to be...

Resilience has gained significant prominence following the re-examination of the performance of the humanitarian and development aid systems in light of the two major food security crises in East and West Africa over the last two years, coupled with ongoing ‘post-2015’ negotiations on key...

Better financial preparedness against risk is a central part of a comprehensive approach to disaster management. Risk financing and risk transfer are approaches to planning for risks that cannot be reduced or avoided practically or cost-effectively and may include a strategy and practical...

Early 2010, the DAC International Network on Conflict and Fragility (INCAF) Task Team on Peacebuilding, Statebuilding and Security commissioned an analysis of the critical impediments to effective donor engagement in the area of security and justice development in conflict-affected and fragile...

The end of the Cold War, globalisation, and the new global security paradigm following the 9/11 attacks have seen a rapid increase in arms production and producers across different geographic regions, as well as the growth of private security enterprises in areas that were previously primarily...

This paper is intended to provoke debate, and stimulate further thinking and study, about humanitarian effectiveness, and what that will mean for donors and other stakeholders, in the run-up to the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016.<P> Today’s humanitarian system is made up of many different...</p>

This research paper seeks to answer three central questions: (i) how can different forms of liberalisation be classified; (ii) how have liberalisation policies and measures affected conflict-affected and fragile states; and (iii) what are the essential institutional governance pre-conditions to...

Although fragile states account for 15% of the global population they only contribute about 2% of exports. Trade is widely believed to be an important determinant of development. This paper analyses the challenges and opportunities faced by fragile states in their bid to diversify their...

This paper considers how development co-operation is addressing the twin objectives of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use on the one hand, and development and poverty reduction on the other. It outlines how development co-operation can a) support mainstreaming biodiversity and...

This paper explores the policy coherence for development (PCD) dimensions of green growth strategies pursued by OECD member states. The coherence challenge is to design OECD green growth policies in order to maximise the positive synergies and minimise the negatives effects on pro-poor growth in...