Working Group X: Public Administration in Fragile and Conflict-affected States

Chair

There is mounting evidence that state building projects have not been as effective as expected, despite the clarity of their strategies and the investment of billions of dollars over the years. Political instability remains one of the most important challenges that hinder state building missions in fragile and conflict-affected countries despite interventions aimed at building stable systems of public administration. In addition, corruption remains another major problem. Both corruption and political instabilities contribute to creating an environment of suspicion and lack of trust between local authorities and state building missions. In this environment, local priorities/policies are ignored and efforts to build transparent and efficient state institutions continue to face challenges.

The objective of Working Group X is to explore theoretical and empirical studies addressing efforts to rebuild and reconstruct public administration systems in fragile and conflict-ridden countries. We encourage both; scholars and practitioners, to share their ideas, experiences, best practices, and research contributions in this context.