Fragile States and Transnational Threats

A key motivation behind recent donor attention and financial resources devoted to developing countries is the presumed connection between weak and failing states, on the one hand, and a variety of transnational threats, on the other. Indeed, it has become conventional wisdom to profess that poorly performing states generate multiple cross-border "spillovers," including terrorism, weapons proliferation, organized crime, regional instability, global pandemics, and energy insecurity - a host of "global public bads". What is striking is how little empirical evidence underpins such sweeping assertions. Similarly, there has been little research on the reciprocal problem: the role of transnational threats in undermining institution-building efforts in poorly performing states. The research project on fragile states and transnational threats analyzes whether today’s transnational challenges arise disproportionately in weak or poorly governed countries--and whether and how these same forces erode state capacities. The project aims to assist analysts and policymakers in getting greater clarity about which states may be most responsible for which types of threats, and to design development assistance and other forms of external interventions accordingly.