Former Minister of Finance of Afghanistan, Dr. Ashraf Ghani, and Clare Lockhart, co-authors of Fixing Failed States, were joined in a lively round-table discussion with a number of leading thinkers from the media, development and diplomatic community. The wide-ranging discussion covered state-building, market-building, the situation in Afghanistan, and the effects of the financial crisis, among other topics.
Clare Lockhart and Dr. Ashraf Ghani discussed their book, Fixing Failed States, and the work of the Market Building Initiative at the Aspen Institute in an informative round-table discussion moderated by Aspen President and CEO, Walter Isaacson.
Introducing some of the core ideas of the book, the presenters discussed the series of functions that a state must perform in the 21st century, such as the provision of the rule of law and citizenship rights, and the creation and regulation of functioning markets.
The discussion focused on the role of markets in fragile states, in contexts ranging from Afghanistan and Haiti to Somalia, Kosovo and Nepal. Markets are created through a series of rights and freedoms and can therefore subverted by authoritarian governments. To date, however, the international community and the aid system have assumed the market to be a naturally developing phenomenon, and have not addressed issues of market-building in peace-agreements and post-conflict strategies.
The development of human capital has also been commonly overlooked as part of post-conflict reconstruction processes. Now, a new approach to state and market- building is required, with a shift from a focus on what capabilities exist within the aid system to how the aid system can enable and support those resources that already exist within a given country. The success of the National Solidarity Program in Afghanistan is just one example of the value of a citizen-centered approach that allows Afghans themselves to decide upon and deliver development outcomes.
The discussion also touched upon other problems with the aid system as it is currently configured, such as its inability to support the development of firm property rights; the adverse effects of the technical assistance industry; and the "off-the-shelf" prescriptions provided for unique problems.
Fielding a variety of questions about the benefits of legalizing the poppy industry, to the role ethnic tensions play in the failure of states, the panelists generated a number of ideas to address the most intractable issues of development around the world.
