WIDER Working Paper No. 2013/126 State-building through neotrusteeship Kosovo and East Timor in comparative perspective Lise Morjé Howard* November 2013 Abstract Why do some states, with foreign assistance, transition from ‘fragile’ to ‘robust?’ Scholars in state-building have argued that neotrusteeship is an effective strategy by which external organizations might build post-conflict states. This working paper tests this hypothesis, and two related propositions, in a paired comparison between Kosovo and East Timor. The two states are ideal for comparison in that they share many similar characteristics, including, most crucially, the fact that both experienced regional peace enforcement operations to end violent conflict, followed by massive neotrusteeship operations. …/ Keywords: Kosovo, East Timor, United Nations, peacekeeping, neotrusteeship, post-conflict development JEL classification: O19, F5 Copyright UNU-WIDER 2013 *Associate Professor, Department of Government, Georgetown University,
[email protected] This study has been prepared within the UNU-WIDER project ‘ReCom—Research and Communication on Foreign Aid’, directed by Tony Addison and Finn Tarp. UNU-WIDER gratefully acknowledges specific programme contributions from the governments of Denmark (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Danida) and Sweden (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency—Sida) for ReCom. UNU-WIDER also gratefully acknowledges core financial support to its work programme from the governments of Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. ISSN 1798-7237 ISBN 978-92-9230-703-5 … However, they have had divergent results in post-conflict state-building: While the state and economy are gradually becoming stronger in East Timor, the same cannot be said of Kosovo, which continues to be plagued by high unemployment, low growth, corruption, and organized crime.