Civil society participation in fragile states: critical thoughts on the new development paradigm and its implementation

A new approach to development co-operation since the late nineties has substantially broadened the scope of civil society engagement in development. This approach has emerged in a setting where a growing number of aid recipient countries are facing conflict or the severe aftermath of conflict, or have governments that lack commitment and / or capacity to poverty reduction. This paper scrutinises the important role ascribed to civil society participation in these particular situations.The increased donor attention for these countries has not led to a shared and coherent classification or terminology. It is argued that this may well jeopardise efforts of harmonisation. The paper questions the validity of the assumptions underscoring the donor insistence on civil society participation in fragile states. Despite a questionable validity, the donor community sticks largely to an aid paradigm conceived for committed and capable development states, with budget support as the preferred modality. The paper highlights the problematic character of upholding a one size-fits-all paradigm in these specific, yet numerous situations. Capacity and security cannot be considered the sole problems to deal with in these countries; participation may not necessarily be good and lowering the threshold deserves to be questioned as the proper donor response. The recent initiative taken by the OECD-DAC to lay down a set of principles for good international engagement in fragile states is an expression of the honourable willingness to move forward. Yet, these principles should not block the process of critical thought, or the constructively questioning of the applicability of the new development paradigm and its instruments in these environments. Exploring alternative routes, including increased diversification of instruments and paradigms, seem very helpful to further the knowledge of working with fragile states.