Publication Archive

Despite Nepal’s economic potential, disagreement on forming an enabling environment for business is entrenching informal and corrupt rules. This impedes licit businesses, restricting trade and investment. This article proposes how the government should partner with…

Current approaches in the Guinea-Bissau reached an impasse as the government struggled to balance competing urgent needs, the population’s desire for tangible change, and longer term institutional reform. This paper suggests a new approach whose…

This paper considers how to resolve Nepalese political stalemate. It argues that progress on constitution-making requires agreement on core constitutional principles to underpin it. It then sets out recommendations to catalyze positive change, overcoming narrow…

Why is Chile now considered a model of good governance and free-market reform? How has it moved to an open, prosperous and stable democracy and how successful has it been in moving beyond the faction…

This paper considers how, at an ‘open moment’ in its history, Nepal might meet the challenge of moving from slogan to implementation. It suggests national programs have a role to play in facilitating this process…

This case study explores how, during the transitional years of 2001 to 2006, Afghan authorities shaped their ‘aid relationship’ with the international community. It describes the strategies, frameworks, policies and systems to manage aid that…

This paper assesses Liberia’s political and economic process since its civil war ended in 2003, and explains the convergence of factors that subsequently led to an ‘open moment’ with potential for constructive change. It identifies…

A state-building strategy must be precisely tailored to its context and the aspirations of the citizens in order to provide the ownership and momentum necessary to expand an open moment into a process of institution…

This paper explains how unstable dual power sharing defined Nepal’s predicament in May 2006. It explains why resulting structural uncertainty affects stakeholders and threatens further development – or even risks collapse. The paper then explains…

The gap in many states between de jure sovereignty and de facto sovereignty is the key obstacle to ensuring global security and prosperity. This paper seeks to define a quantitative index for sovereignty and propose…

In an era of increasing globalization, the experiences of societies merging from crisis and conflict highlights the importance of statehood and state institutions as frameworks for promoting human security, welfare and the rule of law.…

This paper proposes making state-building the central goal of development engagement and aid distribution. It examines the recent record of development agencies to map the processes for aid implementation in practice. Firstly, it considers the…