State
Reconstruction and International Engagement in Afghanistan
Organized
by the Center for Development Research (University of Bonn), and the Crisis
States Programme, Development Research Centre (LSE)
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Bonn,
May 30th to June 1st 2003
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A joint symposium, organised by ZEF (the Center for Development
Research at the University of Bonn) and the Crisis States Research Centre, was held
May 30th to June 1st 2003, in Bonn. The aim was to engage in a serious
assessment of the first year of international involvement in Afghanistan,
based on work of a high analytical/scholarly calibre, in order to provide
insights on how that intervention should be modified and to derive lessons
applicable more generally for the international community's intervention in situations
of state collapse and/or post-war reconstruction. The results of the
symposium will be presented to the key players involved in state
reconstruction and international assistance.
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The intention is that
the results of this exchange should reach the national and multilateral
agencies responsible for international intervention and state rebuilding,
the key players in Afghanistan who are attempting to consolidate the peace,
the NGOs and consultants active in this area, and the academic community
involved in analysis of these types of interventions.
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This symposium complements other activities which have been more
focused on practical or technical issues (for instance, the conference held
at Wilton Park at the end of October 2002):
- being based in the academic community it
provides for a more rigorous and independent treatment of some of the
thornier issues than conferences organised by official agencies;
- we went into more depth than some of the
wide-ranging recent conferences by focusing more narrowly on central
strategic issues related to donor intervention;
- we ensured an in-depth and potentially useful
contribution to donor thinking by engaging in serious preparation before
the conference in terms of the circulation of papers and by avoiding a
string of short presentations (as described in the format above) and
moving directly into serious debate.
Both organizations involved in the preparation of the symposium have a record
of bringing research findings to the policy-making community, and, therefore,
have experiences in distilling academic work for meaningful policy debate and
discussion.
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