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The Washington Quarterly 25.4 (2002) 125-138



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Achieving Socioeconomic Well-Being in Postconflict Settings

Johanna Mendelson Forman


States emerging from conflict are not coincidentally also among the world's poorest. Fifteen of the world's 20 poorest countries have experienced internal conflict in the last 15 years.1 These wars have spilled refugees over borders, often destabilizing neighboring states. Any visitor to these war-torn societies recognizes that without economic hope peace cannot take hold. Although poverty is not a direct cause of violence or civil war, it is a symptom of the decline of a state's capacity to protect and provide for its citizens.

For postconflict reconstruction generally, success is clearly premised on three conditions: (1) establishing security; (2) restoring good governance, which includes the rule of law; and (3) creating economic opportunity. Recent research on the political economy of developing nations suggests that a good policy environment is essential for economic performance. Good governance is the critical variable in a country's ability to overcome its conflict-ridden past.2 Despite more than a decade of experience in postconflict reconstruction, the U.S. government has yet to form a coherent vision for dealing with these tasks. It lacks a deliberate program for linking immediate postconflict needs with medium- and long-term development. Even with the funding available through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the notion of a smooth transition from one phase of reconstruction to another is still elusive.

Intractable conflict and its economic roots have yet to become a serious subject for congressional deliberation or legislative action. U.S. foreign assistance [End Page 125] lacks a focus on conflict prevention. Additionally, none of its tools can handle conflicts driven by resources rather than ideologies. Two major deficiencies that further inhibit U.S. policy to address countries in conflict or with a history of conflict are slow response times in delivering assistance in war-torn countries and any form of flexible credit that would permit local actors to engage in any reconstruction effort.Until recently, socioeconomic tasks were considered part of long-range development assistance programs that could only begin once peace was at hand. We now know that development can take place even when parts of a nation are at war. Research also shows that, at the end of a conflict, a small window of opportunity exists to restore economic hope and social well-being. Without U.S. leadership, it will be lost.

The events of September 11 were central to the U.S. government's rethinking of development assistance. Where once advocating more foreign aid was unpopular, it is now a central feature of President George W. Bush's response to preventing terrorism. As the president has noted, "We must accept a higher, more difficult, more promising call. Developed nations have a duty not only to share our wealth, but also to encourage sources that produce wealth: economic freedom, political liberty, the rule of law, and human rights."3 This articulation of U.S.development objectives mirrors the work on human security currently underway at the United Nations (UN). It recognizes that poverty alleviation implies not only economic growth, but also personal security as a precondition to any other type of socioeconomic progress.

Achieving Social and Economic Well-Being

Of the four pillars of postconflict reconstruction, addressing social and economic well-being is the most varied and therefore the most comprehensive. Ensuring that citizens in war-torn societies can resume a normal existence requires more than just the care and feeding of refugees and the internally displaced. It means providing food security, public health, shelter, educational systems, and a social safety net for all citizens. An economic strategy for assistance must be designed to ensure the reconstruction of physical infrastructure, to generate employment, to open markets, to create legal and regulatory reforms, to lay the foundation for international trade and investment, and to establish transparent banking and financial institutions.

After conflict, certain minimum conditions are necessary to enable a country to progress from decay to development. The following seem essential: [End Page...

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