Convergence in Thinking: Governance Matters in Post-Conflict

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. In explicit recognition of the nexus between stability and governance it seems that the US army will now invest in building up the sorts of skills required for state-building efforts. The convergence of thinking between military and civilian strategy is reassuring and will hopefully yield synergies.  Civilian assistance has been stressing the importance of stakeholder consultations and public dialogue during the planning and implementation of governance initiatives as central to success – putting that on the military's agenda might be one of the challenges ahead.