Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

The European Commission is currently working on the definition of an EU strategic response to situations of fragility.

In order to enrich the policy making process, the European Commission has asked non-governmental organizations, institutions and networks, individual experts and donors to participate in the debate on this important topic.

NIMD’s input reflects some of the main assumptions and guidelines which have recently been defined in its Political Party Assistance in Post-Conflict Societies Strategy (to be published as a Policy Paper in 2008):

• The notions of fragility: a state can be considered fragile when it lacks the essential capacity, resources, legitimacy and/or political will to provide basic services to the population, and faces difficulties in imposing order and in monopolising the use of legitimate violence.

• Continued inter-party dialogue: in situations of post-conflict fragility it is essential that the main political stakeholders continue a process of dialogue in order to overcome mistrust, moderate positions and build consensus on the issues that emerge in the implementation of the new constitutional provisions and other national matters that remain contentious. Outsiders can facilitate such a dialogue process.

• Political dimension: all aspects of the strengthening of state capacity and democratic governance in situations of fragility have a political dimension; a political approach is therefore needed. International donors should engage with regional, national and local political stakeholders and prevent political parties to become the 'missing link' in donor commitments to fragile states.

• Ownership/interactive assessments: the political stakeholders are the ones who need to analyze the situation of fragility. The so-called "interactive assessment methodology", developed by the NIMD, can enable political parties to jointly draw the picture of the state of affairs in their country and to develop a strategy and priority framework for improvement.

• Doing no harm: since international donors are inevitably intervening in a political process, this reinforces the need to respect at any time the principle of 'doing no harm'.

• Long-term engagements: state building and democratization are long-term processes that require long-term (financial) commitments and engagement of international donors.

The public consultation which started in July, will be followed by a debate at an informal meeting of EU Ministers for Development Cooperation on 21 September and a formal debate in the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 19-20 November 2007.