Society in State-building: Lessons in Improving Democratic Governance

By directing attention to interactions between state and society, this 24-page report aims to help external agencies and fragile and conflict-affected states generate a culture of democratic politics. It comes from Initiative for Peacebuilding (IfP), a consortium led by International Alert and funded by the European Commission (EC) that draws together the complementary geographic and thematic expertise of 10 civil society organisations (and their networks) with offices across the European Union (EU) and in conflict-affected countries. Drawing on analyses of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Georgia, and Pakistan, the paper recommends capitalising on the potential of development assistance to improve governance - in particular, by using the processes for defining development strategies to widen and deepen ownership by society as a whole.

According to the author, there is a paradox: Many experts - inside and outside of development agencies - are trying to improve donor support to democratic governance in fragile and conflict-affected countries by looking at power dynamics and incentives for change. Yet, as a whole, aid institutions tend to promote better governance - in part, by subscribing to western experience that is "supply-driven", with goals articulated through nebulous concepts such as "legitimacy" and "effectiveness". The author explains that, "although physical proximity and personal contact may give local political leaders a certain capacity and popular legitimacy, these local political ties may also be the main drag on the more open and equitable sociopolitical 'orders' to which donor agencies aspire. At the same time, notwithstanding the inequity sustained by the local political ties, they may still be the best place to begin when looking at how to make leaders accountable in specific contexts. In all contexts, the dilemmas are multiple and the right trade-offs will depend, as always, on the time and the place...."

The author stresses that, to help improve participation in political decision-making, external agencies must start with a deeper understanding of how ordinary people relate to the governance system - both formal and informal - that shapes their day-to-day lives. They also need to navigate better through the constraints implied by their mandates, contradictions in foreign policy, and the simplistic aid paradigm that is centred on the notion of "national ownership" and "aligning" aid with government priorities.

In the author's words, "Where greater accountability is sought through elections, it is important to ensure that they do not end up as a paper exercise. Other programmes must be implemented before, during and (for years) after the event in order to start to change the way that citizens and officials of the state relate to each other. Changes within formal institutions and headline initiatives on 'corruption' may amount to very little if the broader political culture and expectations of ordinary people are not also steadily transformed in the political and socio-economic spheres. This must necessarily involve an end to cultures of discrimination and impunity. While physical proximity and personal contact give local political leaders capacity and legitimacy, these local political ties may also be the main barrier to a more open and equitable socio-political order." The author identifies the following key insights:

• Elections on their own are not enough; the transformation of political cultures requires a long-term view.
• Devolution of power to local areas has great potential to influence the dynamics of legitimacy. However, devolution may have adverse effects, such as consolidating the control of the centre on local government.
• In many fragile situations, expectations of the government system are very limited. The strength of the social contract in communities is therefore often determined by day-to-day interactions with local leaders.
• There may be a gap between the official position of women in society and their actual position. The key is to disaggregate the issues.
• Identifying avenues for improving democratic governance must build on analysis of underlying and historical factors, recent socio-political changes, the legacy of past atrocities, demographic shifts, and external factors.

External actors should prioritise strategies and projects that widen a population's sense of shared identity, interests, and mutual obligations, as well as those which change how ordinary people understand their role in a political community. Strategies and projects should also deepen public involvement in influencing strategies, policies, and institutional practices and strengthen efforts to make men and women more equal. Recommendations include:

• Using the processes for defining development strategies (such as Poverty Reduction Strategies, or PRSs) to widen and deepen their "ownership" by society as a whole (and not just a government), going beyond the traditional civil society consultations around the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) that usually take place in urban centres and where the range of people represented is often an issue;
• Integrating local initiatives that strengthen accountability between people and local officials into sectoral work, such as education, health, or infrastructure;
• Making the investments necessary to design and deliver development programmes that have governance impacts locally (regular staff engagement is needed at the local level); and
• Applying performance criteria for all projects that will incentivise efforts to institutionalise negotiation and consensus-building within communities and between public administration and citizens.

An excerpt from the concluding section of the document follows:

"In each given context...external agencies should do the following:

1. Reverse institutional resistance to 'software' priorities so that country strategies and programming explicitly prioritise the following kinds of objectives:

• Widening a population's sense of shared identity, interests and mutual obligations at local, provincial and national levels. This means funding projects that aim to overcome popular rejection of 'foreigner' communities...as well as barriers among internal identity groups....The availability of radio sets, the geographical coverage of bandwidths and the content of programming are usually key issues in conflict-affected countries. Close attention must also be paid in all such countries (including those like Georgia where television is more common) to explicit and implicit objectives in media controls, journalist accreditation rules as well as media licensing and taxation.
• Changing how people understand their role in a political 'community'. Efforts to improve formal accountability mechanisms, such as elections and 'public audits', will no doubt remain in place in many country programming strategies....[A]ttention and action is certainly also needed to help media, judiciary and civil society groups provide practicable checks and balances in the political system and reduce the degree that public office is used for private gain. However, greater attention must be paid to the composition of these institutions and groups, their incentives and their geographical coverage. Changes within formal institutions and headline initiatives on 'corruption' may amount to very little if the broader political culture and expectations of ordinary people are not also steadily transformed in the political and socio-economic spheres.
• Deepening public involvement in influencing strategies, policies and institutional practices, notably at the local level. This work must not be limited to periodic voter education programmes. It needs to involve sustained support for 'citizen education' for their engagement in public affairs and to increase their sense of citizenship, such as through cooperative groups on education....This work should be deepened and accelerated, not least in respect of how such mechanisms for more 'active citizenship' affect men and women differently.
• Strengthening efforts to level the 'playing field' between men and women. The key to changing long-standing social practices lies in transforming levels of public awareness. This means generating a shared sense of areas of common interest among men and women and increasing popular knowledge of the remarkable work done by individuals in certain places to promote equity and equality. This agenda...must accompany the targeted capacity development of political and social leaders....It must also accompany efforts to ensure formal structures have the legal basis and mandate as well as institutional will to combat discrimination.

2. External agencies should also pursue the potential that is inherent in all development assistance to increase participation and improve governance. This would include:

• Using the processes for defining development strategies (such as Poverty Reduction Strategies - PRSs) to widen and deepen their 'ownership' by society as a whole (and not just a government)...Donor agencies need to invest significant financial resources to ensure staff are numerous enough, and have the time, to facilitate and accompany the process over a prolonged period of time.
• Integrating local initiatives that strengthen accountability between people and local officials into sectoral work, such as education, health or infrastructure. This may, for example, involve providing funds and/or logistical support for local health, education or engineering officials to travel out from national or political capitals into outlying districts...
• Making the investments necessary to design and deliver development programmes that have governance impacts locally....The mindset that needs to prevail is that democratic governance in fragile and conflict-affected governance is 'expert labour intensive' at the district level, must be tailored to the local situation (its structures and dynamics) and, therefore, needs regular staff engagement there.
• Applying performance criteria for all projects that will incentivise efforts to institutionalise negotiation and consensus-building within communities and between public administration and citizens. This kind of interaction can be integrated into any kind of project or programme, from education delivery to infrastructure....It is vital that donors recognise as soon as possible that, in this respect, international non-governmental organisation (INGO)-led projects can have significant 'statebuilding' benefits - even where state structures are not themselves in the 'driving seat'. The crux lies in the project design and the monitoring criteria."