Governance, Peacebuilding and State-Society Relations

This meeting brief summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place during the seventh International Expert Forum (IEF) that aimed to assess the state of the art in knowledge and practice at the crossroads of governance and peacebuilding, and to unpack the state-society relationship in a way that could help to inform stronger policymaking in consolidating peace and building inclusive and ultimately more resilient societies.

At the moment, over one quarter of the world's population lives in states facing fragility and out of those states at least half are estimated to be affected by armed conflict. In settings such as these, a crisis may have detrimental effects on the legitimate functioning of government and it can easily jeopardize existing state-society relations. Supporting delicate peace agreements, institutional recovery and political processes in a fragile state constitutes a great challenge and poses several dilemmas. How can those challenges and dilemmas be met within the efforts of building sustainable peace? How can the relationship between citizens and the institutions affecting their lives be strengthened within current and future peacebuilding efforts?