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This book addresses the question, 'Why has UN state-building so consistently failed to meet its objectives?'. It proposes an explanation based on the application of complexity theory to UN interventions in South Sudan and DRC, where the UN has been tasked to implement massive stabilization and state-building missions.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Part One: Ideologies and Logics of State-Building
- 1: "A state in anarchy"
- 2: Into the black hole - applying complexity
- Part Two: Experiences in State-Building
- 3: "A New Dawn": South Sudan's Brief Experiment with State-building
- 4: Myopia and mirages: the unmaking of UNMISS
- 5: The Congolese "Black Hole"
- 6: Sisyphean State-building in the Congo: Why the UN's Efforts Failed
- Part Three: End States
- 7: Resilient Systems of Governance: Comparing South Sudan and Congo
- 8: Implications for a World Ordered by States
About the author
Adam Day is a globally recognized expert in international conflict resolution, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and climate-security with more than a decade of experience within UN peace operations, including in the Middle East, East Africa, and the Great Lakes region. He is currently the Director of Programmes at the United Nations University's Centre for Policy Research, and adjunct Associate Professor of International Relations and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He received his PhD from King's College, winning a 2021 Outstanding Thesis Award. He holds a Juris Doctorate from UC Berkeley School of Law, an MA in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and an MA in Comparative Literature from Brown University.
Summary
This book addresses the question, 'Why has UN state-building so consistently failed to meet its objectives?'. It proposes an explanation based on the application of complexity theory to UN interventions in South Sudan and DRC, where the UN has been tasked to implement massive stabilization and state-building missions.
Additional text
States of Disorder offers a powerful insider's critique of UN state-building efforts. We've long known that the liberal statehood approach to conflict resolution has run its course. But Adam offers hope: if the UN wishes to exert influence and fulfil the goal of reducing violence, rather than impose external models, it can gradually understand the complex systems of governance and web of relationships at work in societies riven by conflicts and evolve new ways of managing growing levels of violence in many parts of the world.
