A major debate is brewing on what to do about ‘failed states’, lawlessness and endemic violence. Is the solution to ‘build states’? Or should we be looking at alternatives?

New analysts have begun to unsettle the conventional wisdom. But establishment organisations such as the World Bank are failing to take the changing evidence into account.

On the one side we have what might be called the establishment position. Most official aid agencies, including DFID (pdf, 1mb), hold this view, as do official international organisations like the OECD (pdf).

These organisations’ view is that states should be built. Where there are problems of lawlessness, ‘ungoverned spaces’, ‘failed states’ or endemic conflict, the solution is to put states back together again. This perspective might suggest, for example that all of Somalia should be governed by a single, national government...

Read the full article on the Governance and Development blog.

Image credit: Dermot Tatlow / Panos