DWA 344 Junior Seminar: Post-Conflict Reconstruction and State-Building

Post-conflict reconstruction in the wake of war and state-building have been prominent activities in international security.  The international community now addresses non-state conflict with vigorous programs of state-building. Former President George W. Bush writes in his biography “Afghanistan was the ultimate nation-building mission.” The prevailing post-conflict reconstruction paradigm emphasizes building indigenous capacity – security, governance, judicial, social and economic – so that peace can be sustained without outside intervention. The agents of transition from war to peace are varied in type: internal and external; military and civilian; governmental, intergovernmental, non-governmental and private sector. Military personnel, for example, have long performed many services in the chaos of war and its aftermath: providing emergency medical treatment, food and shelter for dislocated civilians; patching infrastructure, running town meetings, building schools, patrolling streets and training security forces. Aid workers braved great danger to relieve human suffering.  A broad array of peace builders today attempt ambitious agendas for human security, effective participatory governance, economic liberalization, and rule of law. The common goal of these activities is to build a basis for political and economic development. Open only to DWA and Politics majors with junior or senior standing.