In recent years, policymakers and academics alike have made important strides to better understand the intertwined political, social and economic dimensions of violent, intra-state conflicts, leading in effect to the progressive integration of development and security initiatives. The International Peace Academy program on the Security-Development Nexus examines the achievements and failings of comprehensive approaches to conflict management and seeks to extract policy-relevant recommendations on how coherent and mutually supportive security and development policies can be designed and implemented at the UN and beyond.

International programs to support the rule of law are now regarded as important components of both the...

Over the last decade, international actors have increasingly supported the implementation of programs designed to strengthen the rule of law in countries susceptible to or recovering from violent conflict. From Cambodia to Liberia, El Salvador to Afghanistan, policy-making and programming activities have included advice on: constitution-making and legislative drafting; judicial and law enforcement reforms; support to human rights institutions; anticorruption and transparency initiatives; regulatory mechanisms and administrative law; and the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms. There is now a growing body of literature on the subject and greater awareness about the importance of these programs in vulnerable countries.¹ While the...

It is important to examine whether rule of law strategies have been properly tailored to specific and differentiated needs for states in different stages of stability and development, and whether adequate cooperation and coherence of both actors and overall policies currently exists in conflict prevention, peacemaking and peace implementation, and postconflict peacebuilding. Although these three phases are overlapping and blurred, examining activities through this lens is nonetheless useful for analytical purposes, as the strategies, priorities and needs of international actors and local constituencies are likely to differ in these various phases.

The rule of law is increasingly finding favor in...

The rule of law is an increasingly significant element of international strategies for fragile and/or developing countries. Yet, creating the most effective programs to effect change in this area is still very much a work in progress. Strategic approaches must be based on the recognition that the law is always the product of a political process and that political buy-in is required for reforms to be successful and sustainable. Thus, the rule of law should not be regarded as a subset of security objectives or as a purely technical component of development programs, but should rather be seen as an...