Fast Facts: Governance in post crisis settings

Document Summary

A quarter of the world’s population lives in countries where state capacities are limited and societies experience high levels of fragility due to the repercussions of war or disaster. In these contexts, states cannot provide security and basic services to their citizens or effectively manage the process of recovery.  

At least 30 of those countries are currently afflicted with armed conflicts that threaten citizen’s lives, undermine the rule of law, and disrupt the political order. Many more countries are affected by widespread organized crime or drug-related violence on top of social and political unrest.

Countries in fragile contexts are the farthest from achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The 2011 United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report estimates that none of the states undergoing fragility will achieve a single MDG by 2015.

When governments cannot fulfill their obligations to provide social services and security, vicious cycles of violence and poverty emerge, as the basic foundations of the state, society and citizenship are undermined.

Under those conditions the rights of women, youth, minori­ties and children are frequently marginalized or violated, property rights are ignored, and economic, social and political development are endangered.