Promoting recovery from conflict is not limited to simply a humanitarian, security or development issue and often involves a combination of all three. Stabilization of fragile states is an approach and a process regarding the fragility and security of said states. Hence, stabilization is an essential concept in relation to fragile and failed states, where basic institutions and services are lacking and where conflict is an influential factor. OECD uses the term from fragility to resilient to describe the process of stabilization.
Stabilization processes are a multisectoral effort, requiring a variety different instruments that seek to secure the basic needs of the population and support the development of state-building to ensure the process is sustainable and builds stronger and more legitimate states These actions are primarily taken by western governments and national actors often involving a combination of military, political, development and humanitarian objectives, resources and activities to tackle transnational and domestic threats through short term security promotion.
Historical logic for international engagement
Stabilization, as it is currently articulated and implemented by the US and other Western governments, is premised on an assumption that weak governance, instability, violent conflict and associated poverty and underdevelopment pose a direct threat to their strategic interests and international peace and security more broadly. This is because ‘islands of instability’ are seen as constituting sources of regional insecurity and contagion, particularly in their association with international terrorism, transnational crime and other real and existential threats. While stabilization is firmly rooted in security agendas focused on reducing or eliminating perceived threats, accumulated experience of international intervention and engagement to end conflicts and foster peace and development over the past decade has emphasized the need to integrate military, political, development and humanitarian action. In contexts as diverse as Afghanistan, Haiti and Timor-Leste, stabilization has emerged therefore as a key instrument of a broader liberal, transformative peace-building project. As such, it extends beyond short-term or conservative objectives to eliminate immediate threats or merely to ‘stabilize’ temporarily situations of acute crisis to link action across a range of discrete policy spheres with the aim of reducing violence and establishing the political and social conditions necessary for recovery, reconstruction, development and a lasting peace.
Somalia, a failed state with no functioning government and with most of the country being controlled by insurgents, is an example of stabilization efforts. For fear of Somalia becoming a safe haven for terrorist and thus destabilizing the region and threatening the global society, international actors have engaged through counter-insurgency as a stabilization strategy to remove the insurgents and make Somalia a resilient state for the benefit of Somalis and the international security.
Policy dimensions
Security, development and institutional transformation
Security and development share a close but complex connection and successful international humanitarian and development stakeholders in fragile states must understand and engage the security issues in areas they operate. Such an understanding has been reached by donors such as DFID, the United Nations, the European Union and USAID and they have all been involved in security sector reform and efforts to improve justice, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste. Yet these efforts have often been limited in their success as a balance security and development is difficult to achieve. The UK government supported reforms in Sierra Leone along the principle of "security first" over the last decade, which is believed to have improved security, increased access to and the quality of justice, decreased corruption and positively reformed public service. Since the end of the civil war in 2002, there has been no major violence, peaceful elections were held in 2007 and there has been enough stability to help build sustainable institutions. Yet Sierra Leone suffers severe underdevelopment and ranks third to last on the UN Human Development Index for 2010. This in turn has created frustration and disappointment amongst the younger generation and poses a significant risk of a return to violence.