NSA professors Drs. Nazneen Barma and Jessica Piombo have coauthored a new article (with Naomi Levy) titled, “The Puzzle of International Intervention in Conflict-Affected States,” published in December 2019 by the Owl in the Olive Tree. One of the conundrums of post-conflict interventions is that despite copious amounts of international assistance devoted to the dual enterprise of strengthening states and building peace, many post-conflict countries remain either poorly governed, stubbornly insecure, or, both. Governance in others remains weak despite peace; while in still others there is strong governance, but peace remains elusive. For decades, scholars and practitioners have supposed the road to peace is through strong institutions; yet, these conundrums remain. The authors feel the current, key assumptions undergirding to “peacebuilding through statebuilding” are misguided. To better understand conundrums like this and to work through the multilayered challenges presented by current approaches to (re)building states and societies after conflict, the authors present a new three-pronged approach that separates the processes of statebuilding and peace building.

To read the article, click here.