How would you define a state? Are nations and states different?

Fragile States Index

• Fragile States Index

• Political indicators

• State legitimacy: Corruption and lack of representativeness undermine the social contract, as citizens lose confidence in state institutions and processes. Measurements include corruption or profiteering by ruling elites, resistance to transparency, level of democracy, illicit economy, and protests/demonstrations.

• Public services: Disappearance, or lack of, basic state functions indicate a state's inability to perform one of its key roles. Measurements include essential services, such as healthcare, education, sanitation, public transportation, police, and infrastructure. Also examined is the use of the state apparatus for agencies that serve ruling elites, such as security forces, executive staff, central bank, diplomatic service, customs and collection agencies.

• Human rights and rule of law: The violation or uneven protection of basic rights mark a failure of a state to execute its primary responsibility. Measurements include press freedom and civil liberties, as well as any widespread abuse of legal, political and social rights for individuals, groups, or cultural institutions (e.g., harassment of the press, politicization of the judiciary, internal use of military for political ends, public repression of political opponents, religious or cultural persecution).

• Security apparatus: An emergence of elite or praetorian guards that operate with impunity challenges the security apparatus' monopoly on the use of force, weakening the social contract. Measurements include internal conflict, riots/protests, military coups, rebel activity, and the emergence of state-sponsored or state-supported private militias that terrorize political opponents or civilians seen to be sympathetic to the opposition.

• Factionalised elites: A fragmentation of ruling elites and state institutions along group lines undermines public confidence. Measurements include elite power struggles, flawed elections, and use of aggressive nationalistic rhetoric.

• External Intervention: Intervention by external actors into a state's affairs signals a state's failure to meet domestic or international obligations. Measurements include level of foreign assistance, presence of peacekeepers or UN missions, foreign military intervention, sanctions, and credit ratings. Intervention by donors, especially if there is a tendency towards over-dependence on foreign aid or peacekeeping missions, is also considered

Civil Society:

• Civil Society:

• Civil society is the "aggregate of non-governmental organizations and institutions that manifest interests and will of citizens." Civil societyincludes the family and the private sphere, referred to as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business.

Regime Types:

• Regime Types:

Regime Types:

• Regime Types:

Development agencies:

• Development agencies:

• USAID

• World Bank

• International Monetary Fund

• World Health Organisation

• World Trade Organisation

• OXFAM

• Medicines Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders)

• World Food Program

• Asian Development Bank

• African Development Bank

UN Peacebuilding Commission:

• UN Peacebuilding Commission:

• THE PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION (PBC)

• The Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) is an intergovernmental advisory body that supports peace efforts in countries emerging from conflict, and is a key addition to the capacity of the International Community in the broad peace agenda.

• The Peacebuilding Commission plays a unique role in (1) bringing together all of the relevant actors, including international donors, the international financial institutions, national governments, troop contributing countries; (2) marshalling resources and (3) advising on and proposing integrated strategies for post-conflict peacebuilding and recovery and where appropriate, highlighting any gaps that threaten to undermine peace.

• Countries currently on the PBC agenda

• Burundi

• Sierra Leone

• Guinea

• Guinea-Bissau

• Liberia

• Central African Republic

Post Conflict Compacts:

• Post Conflict Compacts:

Democratization:

• Democratization:

• Democratization is the transition to a more democratic political regime. It may be the transition from an authoritarian regime to a full democracy, a transition from an authoritarian political system to a semi-democracy or transition from a semi-authoritarian political system to a democratic political system

Authoritarianism

• Authoritarianism

• Authoritarianism is a form of government characterized by strong central power and limited political freedoms.