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Developing capacity in fragile states
Author(s) -
Brinkerhoff Derick W.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
public administration and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-162X
pISSN - 0271-2075
DOI - 10.1002/pad.545
Subject(s) - fragility , scope (computer science) , capacity building , state (computer science) , fiscal capacity , politics , psychological intervention , intervention (counseling) , capacity development , economics , law and economics , public economics , political science , business , economic growth , computer science , law , environmental economics , psychology , psychiatry , chemistry , algorithm , programming language
How can fragile states and the international community strengthen capacity and find a path from fragility to socio‐economic progress? This article offers some answers to this question. The discussion opens with brief overviews of capacity and capacity development (CD), and then turns to capacity targets in fragile states. Almost any CD choice involves trade‐offs and dilemmas. The article explores the following: state versus non‐state service provision, services now versus institutional strengthening, immediate security versus long‐term stability, technical versus political factors and external actors and local capacity. A model of CD intervention is presented. The model identifies three dimensions that can be used to characterise interventions to build capacity: the amount of time required, the degree of difficulty and complexity and the scope and depth of the change involved. The implications of the model are identified. The article concludes with some emerging guidance for CD. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.