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...

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...

Transnational organised crime (TOC) refers to a fluid and diversified industry that engages in illicit activities ranging from drug and human trafficking to drug smuggling, piracy and money laundering. Although it may affect strong states, conflict-affected and fragile states are especially...

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...

While it is widely presumed that development progress in so-called fragile states is lagging behind, only very limited empirical analysis exists that investigates to what extent the levels and trends in the MDGs differ significantly between fragile and other developing countries, and between...

What drives improvements in the budget transparency of fragile states? By investigating the dynamics of budget transparency in post 9/11 Afghanistan, this paper demonstrates that factors such as budget reforms, aid conditionality, legislature and civil society (and media) demands for information...