February 2008

What follows is a discussion of two of the many challenges that often bedevil efforts to bring out pro-poor social and political change and an approach that is a way of dealing with them. You know the deal: well-meaning technocrats try to introduce a bit of governance reform...by stealth. Then it runs into trouble- usually due to vigorous attacks by vested interests likely to lose out if the reform succeeds - yet the potential beneficiaries are not organized, do not even know that they might benefit from the reform. And so the reformers are defeated.  Or the reform, if it has already been introduced, is reversed or stalls. The problem is that many technical specialists are uncomfortable with the public sphere and all it entails: people, the media, controversy and debate, 'noise'. But unsupported reforms tend to become orphans and street urchins.

For the past few weeks, the Philippine media have been intensely focused on a controversy regarding a foreign loan meant to fund the creation of the National Broadband Network (NBN), a project envisioned to seamlessly link all government offices across the archipelago via the Internet. Whistleblower Jun Lozada alleged in a senate committee hearing that a former high level official was poised to receive $130 million in kickbacks, a claim that has been repeatedly denied.

The importance of governance and state-building for stability in post-conflict situations has been recognized widely among the multi and bilateral aid policy-set. This belief is now being shared by the US military strategists according to an article in the NYT . A new US military operations manual reportedly acknowledges that “winning battles and engagements is important but alone not sufficient,” and elevates the stabilization of war-torn nations, making it equally important to defeating enemies on the battlefield.  Apparently the military challenges in Afghanistan and Iraq led to much soul-searching on how to prepare for future conflicts and their aftermaths.

Political transformations are challenging processes; they can be messy; the signing of a peace accord is often only the first step in a long process. Opening up the political space, particularly in places that experienced years of domination, will increase the number of voices that call for more participation and a say in the process. These calls can feel threatening to an elite still used to the principle of exclusion and patronage; they require a change of political mind-set and acceptance of a fundamentally changed political framework. And yet, in countries emerging from violent conflict measures that head these calls and effectivly address issues of social and political exclusion are central to achieving long-term stability.