Despite the broad discourse on fragile states and the threat they pose to the contemporary world order, the literature on the subject does to a large extent ignore the material factors behind the causes of state fragility. Scholars and organizations in the field have almost exclusively adopted the Social Contract Theory (SCT) in order to explain state fragility as a problem caused by social factors. This study broadens the discourse by applying SCT as well as the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) on the case study of Sudan, in order to do a deductive theory testing of the added value of each theory. The results of this study show that while the Social Contract Theory does explain many factors behind state fragility, the application of the Actor-Network Theory adds to this by also incorporating the networks between the social and material determinants in societies. This research contributes to the debate on fragile states by adding to the scarce research on the materiality of fragility through the use of the Actor-Network Theory. The positive results of this thesis encourage future use of this theory in the field as it has the potential to give new insights in how to deal with fragile states.

Approximately sixty countries have been designated `Fragile States' by international development agencies. Home to two billion of the world's poorest people, these fragile states are characterized by violence, weak institutions and shattered economies. Not only do they pose a challenge to regional security, they often become the breeding grounds for terrorism. Donor agencies pour billions of dollars annually into these countries - through policy advice and conditional loans - to alleviate fragility and promote development. Development, however it is defined, involves economic, social and political transformation. Such a transformation is shaped by ideas, engages multiple interests, and proceeds within rules and norms set by political institutions. Since the structure of political institutions is influenced by human agency, leadership becomes important to study. Leadership is crucial particularly in fragile states, where institutions are weak or have been destroyed by conflict; however, a systematic effort to examine the role of leaders and coalitions in fragile states is lacking. This dissertation seeks to create a methodology to improve understanding of the role of different leadership strategies in bringing about transitions in and out of fragility. To make the scope manageable, the study focuses on: (i) leadership at the national level; and (ii) fragile states in Africa. It does so by examining: (i) evidence from country level panel data on leadership (regime) change and fragility; and (ii) in-depth analytical case studies of transitions in and out of fragility in four countries: Zimbabwe, Uganda, Rwanda, and South Africa. The analysis looks at the relationship between the change agent's leadership strategy (the independent variable: political participation and inclusion, economic growth and inclusion, and security and justice) and fragility outcomes (dependent variable: conflict and security indicators, economic indicators, and the approach to political inclusion). The results of the regression analysis exhibit a robust association between leadership change and fragility. Furthermore, the country cases show how different types of leadership strategies lead to varying trajectories of fragile states' post-transition. The case studies reveal different approaches to sequencing of political inclusion and the role of leadership exit in transitions from fragility.

no / While the general argument that it is easier and more cost-effective to prevent conflicts before the outbreak of violence has considerable attraction, a rigorous approach to estimating the cost and benefits of this policy is still lacking. The objective of this study is to contribute to the development of such an approach. The project involves six case studies, three retrospective (the Western Balkans, Afghanistan, and Rwanda) and three prospective (Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and southern Sudan). Its main conclusion is that targeted programmes of conflict prevention are (or would have been) significantly cheaper than cure.

This thesis examines and compares the humanitarian interventions in Kosovo, Libya and Somalia. The purpose of this study is to examine if the presence of strong tribal structures within a nation can increase the risk of terrorist activities, and subsequently contribute to a failed state following a humanitarian intervention. By applying a theory on tribes and critical terrorism studies, this thesis argues that policymakers might underestimate the significance of tribal structure within a state, before intervening. With Mills method of concomitant variation, this thesis has examined and compared the leadership, interventions, radical presence, and tribal structures of Kosovo, Libya and Somalia. This thesis has also examined if interventions can increase radicalism. The result from the analysis shows us that the presence of strong tribal structures can increase the terrorist activities and subsequently contribute to a failed state. Humanitarian intervention can further lengthen the weak state apparatus if the external actors neglect of the local structures of a state.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:48:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Manoela Salem Miklos.pdf: 1766313 bytes, checksum: 610fc2901a62355b32e7508fdaac46e5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / At the end of the 1990 s, researchers involved on the debate about the new wars introduced the discussion about the urban dimension of the contemporary conflicts to the International Relations discipline. Such discussion fostered new research lines, all of which share the perception that the urban dimension is critical to the understanding of the contemporary conflicts. The city is the place where transnational flows materialize both legal and illegal, formal and informal, material and immaterial, the place where the challenges of global governance become concrete. The debate about the fragility of the cities is one of the many lines of inquiry that emerge within this framework. This thesis seeks, first, to systematize the literature on the fragile cities from its origins, when it was linked it to the literature on fragile states, to the present. Then, it will demonstrate that the fragile cities are constituted as a new locus of humanitarianism through empirical evidence. The literature on the fragile cities creates new perspectives. Humanitarian aid Institutions inaugurate new practices, appropriating the literature on fragile cities / Inseridos no debate a respeito das novas guerras, pesquisadores introduziram à disciplina das Relações Internacionais, ao final dos anos 1990, a discussão a respeito da dimensão urbana dos conflitos contemporâneos. Tal discussão inaugurou linhas de pesquisa que compartilham a percepção de que reconhecer a dimensão urbana dos conflitos contemporâneos é fundamental para a compreensão dos mesmos. A cidade é o espaço onde se materializam os fluxos transnacionais legais e ilegais, formais e informais, materiais e imateriais, o espaço onde os desafios da governança global ganham concretude. Dentre as linhas de pesquisa que emergem nesse marco, está o debate a respeito da fragilidade das cidades. A presente tese busca, em primeiro lugar, sistematizar a literatura a respeito das cidades frágeis desde sua origem, vinculada à literatura a respeito dos Estados frágeis, até o presente. Em seguida, procura-se demonstrar através de evidências empíricas que as cidades frágeis constituem-se como novo locus do humanitarismo. A literatura sobre as cidades frágeis inaugura novas perspectivas. As instituições dedicadas à ajuda humanitária, uma vez que se apropriam de tal literatura, inauguram novas práticas

La ricerca sugli effetti negativi del debito sulla crescita economica si è concentrata principalmente sui paesi a reddito medio (PRM) e paesi con accesso ai mercati finanziari, un gruppo PRM con accesso illimitato ai mercati internazionali dei capitali. La letteratura sugli effetti della volatilità macroeconomica sulla crescita, che si e' concentrata sui PRM, è stata sviluppata nel 1990. Un numero limitato di studi ha tentato di analizzare il legame tra debito e crescita in paesi a basso reddito. Questa raccolta di ricerche tenta di colmare questa lacuna, esaminando l'applicabilità del quadro concettuale che collega volatilita', debito e crescita ai paesi a basso reddito. In particolare, le ricerche si concentrano sul ruolo della politica fiscale in paesi a basso reddito, la sua pertinenza per raggiungere e mantenere la sostenibilità del debito ed evitare crisi con conseguenze negative protratte sulla crescita economica. I risultati indicano che le politiche fiscali nei paesi a basso reddito non hanno necessariamente un ruolo chiave nel garantire il rispetto del vincolo di bilancio intertemporale di governo e nel mantenere la sostenibilità del debito. Questo risultato è in netto contrasto con l'attuale ricerca economica sulla sostenibilità fiscale nei PRM e porta a diverse implicazioni per la condotta della politica economica in paesi a basso reddito. / Research on the negative effect of debt on economic growth has mainly focused on middle income countries (MICs) and market access countries (MACs), the latter a group of MICs with unconstrained access to international capital markets. Literature on the effects of macroeconomic volatility on growth focusing on MICs was developed in the 1990’s. Few studies have attempted to analyze the nexus between debt and growth in low income countries (LICs). This collection of papers attempts to fill this gap, by examining the applicability of the conceptual framework linking volatility, debt and growth to LICs. Specifically, the papers focus on the role of fiscal policy in LICs, its relevance for achieving and maintaining debt sustainability deterring economic crisis and excessive growth slumps. Results indicate that LICs fiscal policies do not necessarily play a key role in ensuring respect of the government intertemporal budget constraint and debt sustainability. This result is in stark contrast with existing economic research on fiscal sustainability in MICs leading to different implications for policy conducts in LICs.

Plus du tiers des enfants non scolarisés dans le monde vit actuellement dans des pays considérés comme fragiles. Principalement localisés en Afrique subsaharienne, ces pays, pour la plupart, ne seront pas en mesure de réaliser les objectifs de l’Éducation Pour Tous d’ici 2015. Se situant à la croisée de l’éducation comparée, des sciences politiques et de la sociologie des organisations, cette thèse explore empiriquement les conditions d’achèvement de l’EPT dans les contextes de fragilités.Malgré les ambigüités qui l’entourent, la notion d’État fragile a été adoptée en 2005 en tant que concept opérationnel par la plupart des organismes d’aide. Si les définitions de l’État fragile convergent sur un ensemble de critères spécifiques (institutions dysfonctionnelles, instabilité sociopolitique chronique, accès limité aux services sociaux), la fragilité revêt des dimensions variées et connexes dont la sévérité rend la réalisation de la scolarisation primaire universelle singulièrement aléatoire. Dès lors, l’injonction faite aux États de fournir une édu-cation de base homogène aux populations, notamment aux plus pauvres, peut rencontrer des difficultés d’adaptation dans les contextes particuliers des États fragiles (chapitre 1). Les conflits armés constituent certainement la plus évidente origine de la fragilité des États et des pays. Les effets de ces conflits mettent à mal le développement éducatif et anéantissent toute perspective d’éducation pour une proportion d’enfants difficilement mesurable, parti-culièrement ceux issus de milieux pauvres et isolés. Les périodes d’instabilité signalent égale-ment l’impact des politiques des finances publiques ainsi que l’échec d’un gouvernement à investir dans des domaines sociaux tels que l’éducation, élément contribuant à l’émergence des valeurs d’un système politique à tendances démocratiques (chapitre 2). Dans la mesure où l’investissement éducatif est perçu comme une condition nécessaire, sinon suffisante, de sortie de la pauvreté, l’option d’impulser et d’accélérer le développement éducatif s’impose comme un critère d’opportunité pour la communauté internationale, quitte à exercer des formes d’ingérence. Les conclusions de notre analyse empirique montrent, dans la problématique des États fragiles, l’émergence d’une contradiction actuelle entre le caractère inclusif des objectifs de l’EPT et la nature excluante des paradigmes sur lesquels se fondent l’aide extérieure (efficacité et résultats). Cette situation conduit alors à s’interroger sur une approche de l’aide liée à une analyse morale écartelée entre les conséquences des actions individuelles ou communes et dont les critères et instruments financiers ne sont visiblement pas adaptés aux situations de fragilité (chapitre 3). / Currently, over a third of children not in school live in countries considered being as fragile. These countries, which are mainly located in sub-Saharan Africa, will not reach the objectives of Education For All for 2015. This thesis covers approaches across comparative education, political science and sociology of organizations. It explores empirically the condi¬tions of achievement of EFA within the contexts of fragility. Despite its ambiguities, the notion of fragile states was adopted in 2005 as an operational concept by most of aid agencies. Definitions of fragile state converge on a set of specific criteria (dysfunctional institutions, chronic socio-political instability, limited access to social services). Nevertheless, the former also cover various and related dimensions, whose severity makes universal primary education achievement particularly hazardous. Therefore, the in¬junction made to states to provide homogenous basic education for their population, espe¬cially in the poorest ones, may indeed encounter difficulties in the particular contexts of fragile states (chapter 1). Armed conflicts are certainly the most obvious cause of the fragility of states and countries. The effects of these conflicts undermine the educational system and destroy any prospect of education for a difficulty measurable proportion of children, especially those in poor and isolated environments. Periods of instability can also be seen in the impact of public finances policies and the failure of governments to invest in social areas such as education. The latter being an element that contributes to the emergence of values of a democratic political system (chapter 2). Insofar as investment in education is perceived as a necessary, if not sufficient, to vanquish poverty, the option to stimulate and accelerate the development of education constitutes an opportunity for the international community. Even if it means that the latter also has to ex¬ercise some forms of interference. The findings of our empirical analysis show, that within fragile states, the emergence of a current contradiction between the inclusive nature of the EFA goals and the exclusionary nature of the paradigms on which foreign aid is based (effec¬tiveness and results). This situation leads us to question the approach of aid which is torn morally between the consequences of individual actions or common actions where the finan¬cial criteria and instruments are clearly not adapted to situations of fragility (chapter 3).

[pt] A proposta dessa dissertação é analisar a existência ou não de um discurso alternativo por parte do governo brasileiro frente ao discurso tradicional sobre Estados falidos. Para realizar esse trabalho partimos de uma análise do discurso tradicionalmente usado, para entender como ele é constituído, quais as palavras chaves que o formam e as implicações que ele traz inerente ao seu conteúdo. Na tentativa de observar a existência ou não de um discurso alternativo por parte do Estado brasileiro, analisaremos a posição brasileira perante dois casos com os quais o Brasil teve amplo envolvimento: Haiti e Guiné Bissau. A partir de tais casos buscaremos entender como esse discurso alternativo é constituído, como e onde ele se diferencia do discurso tradicional. Por fim tentaremos observar quais as consequências esse discurso alternativo pode prover aos ditos Estados falidos. / [en] The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the existence or not of an alternative discourse by the Brazilian government against the traditional discourse on failed States. To accomplish this work we start from an analysis of the traditionally used discourse to understand how it is made, what are the key words that form it and the implications it brings inherent to its content. In an attempt to observe the existence or nor of an alternative discourse by the Brazilian State, we will analyze the Brazilian position relative to two cases which Brazil had an extensive involvement: Haiti and Guinea Bissau. Starting from these two cases we will try to understand how this alternative discourse is constituted, how and where it differs from the traditional discourse. Finally we will try to observe what consequences this alternative discourse can provide to the so called failed States.

Companies adopt codes of conduct to set minimum standards on ethical issues, minimums that suppliers must keep. Problems has been found by other researchers regarding suppliers motivation to comply to the code. This study develops a conceptual model for how motivation can be adjusted to different countries, depending on economic situation, politic stability and culture of the country.   Country-Adjusted Motivation is made  by shaping motivating in relation to the human need that dominates in the country and by using the national culture to colour motivation. The model is applied in the context of how to motivate suppliers to a code of conduct in different countries. The model Country-Adjusted Motivation could as well be applied to other multinational contexts, where strong motivation is needed.

Cette thèse traite des mesures à prendre afin d'assurer le succès de projets de développement exécutés par des firmes privées, et plus particulièrement les Organisations Non Gouvernementales (ONGs). Les ONGs sont des firmes à but non lucratif qui sont semblables aux gouvernements dans leur préoccupation pour le bien-être des bénéficiaires et aux firmes privées standard sur le plan organisationnel. Leur participation aux projets de développement soulève la question de savoir si elles sont plus efficaces que ces entités similaires. Malgré la croissance rapide du secteur ONG, surtout des multinationales basées dans les pays riches avec des branches implantées dans les pays pauvres, peu de recherches en économie de développement se sont intéressées à comment la nature d’une organisation peut affecter son comportement dans l’implémentation des projets de développement. Les trois chapitres de cette thèse soulignent des différences entre Les ONG, les firmes privées et les gouvernements et examinent comment la nature même de chaque type d'organisation affecte sa fourniture de services publics. Les deux questions-clés sont donc pourquoi et sous quelles des conditions choisir une ONG comme fournisseur de biens et services dans le cadre d'un projet de développement, et comment s’assurer que les normes culturelles des bénéficiaires n’affectent négativement la réussite desdits projets. / This thesis addresses the question of how to ensure the success of development projects executed by private firms, especially Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). NGOs are non-profit firms that are similar to governments in their concern about beneficiaries' welfare and to standard private firms in their organizational form. Their involvement in development projects raises the issue of how well they perform in service provision compared to alternative entities. Despite the rapid growth of the non-profit sector, especially international firms based in high-income countries that operate in low-income countries, the existing literature on economic development has hardly investigated the issue of non-profit performance and regulation. The three chapters of this thesis emphasize differences between NGOs and either private for-profit firms or governements, and examine how the very nature of each type of organization affects service provision. The two key questions are why and under which conditions to choose an NGO as goods or services provider in the framework of a development project, and how to ensure beneficiaries' cultural norms do not undermine the success of development projects.