Statebuilding and Insurgency in Conflict Zones

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Under what conditions are statebuilding and humanitarian programs in fragile, conflict-affected countries successful? When do local and international programs mutually reinforce one another, and when do they work at cross-purposes? And what explains variation in the ability of insurgents to undermine or capture aid flows and emerging institutions? This panel assembles leading scholars to explore the complex links between international intervention, armed conflict, statebuilding, and insurgency in diverse contexts, including Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, and Somalia. Collectively, they employ multiple methods, including survey experiments, microlevel event data, and qualitative interviews. The panel contributes to our understanding of conflict dynamics, state formation, and aid delivery in fragile states.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 20: Foreign Policy

Individual Presentations

• Effective State Building by Foreign Powers - Desha Girod, Georgetown University

• Islands of Stability: Subnational Statebuilding in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan - Michael F. Harsch, New York University Abu Dhabi

• Civilian Casualties and the Conditional Effects of Humanitarian Aid in Wartime - Jason Lyall, Yale University

• Endogenous Taxation in Ongoing Internal Conflict: The Case of Colombia - Jacob Norman Shapiro, Princeton University

Chair

• Ellen M. Lust University of Gothenburg

Discussant

• Saad Gulzar Stanford University