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113 pages

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This is a book about people. ‘Fragile States’ in an Unequal World: The Role of the g7+ in International Diplomacy and Development Cooperation introduces the members of the g7+, a group formed by 20 conflict-affected states: why they came to believe in politics and policy; how they feel about their work, their family and their communities; and what they want to leave behind for the next generations It is the story of their personal and collective values, their mistakes, and the challenges they faced, and it will resonate with anyone who has tried to organize and work with a group of very different people.

This book is also a contribution for those seeking to influence international policy, especially from a disadvantageous position. It explores how to find your voice, use your survival skills, work with passion, decide how much to concede and act responsibly. Together, these lessons illuminate the paths that individual members have walked as they found their own voices, as well as how the g7+ fights to speak collectively. The book ends with a glimpse of the way forward, as Isabel Rocha de Siqueira encourages younger generations to engage with politics and policy generously, with hope for the future.

Combining literature and hard facts – along with other elements such as illustrations, cartoon strips and photographs to tell the previously untold stories of public servants in poor, conflict-affected countries, the book offers an original (and very human) micro and macro perspective on the politics of development. It will be of interest to professionals in major development organisations, students and professors in development courses, policymakers, public servants, civil society, activists working for major international NGOs, and journalists who report on the development industry, as well as those with a general interest in international development cooperation, international diplomacy and other related fields.

Sujets

Political Advocacy

Political Process

Political Science

Informations

Publié par	Open Book Publishers
Date de parution	26 octobre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781800647961
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	14 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0350€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

‘FRAGILE STATES’ IN AN UNEQUAL WORLD

‘Fragile States’ in an Unequal World
The Role of the g7+ in International Diplomacy and Development Cooperation
Isabel Rocha de Siqueira

https://www.openbookpublishers.com
©2022 Isabel Rocha de Siqueira. Foreword by E. P. Xanana Gusmão ©2022

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the text; to adapt the text for non-commercial purposes of the text providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:
Isabel Rocha de Siqueira , ‘Fragile States’ in an Unequal World: The Role of the g7+ in International Diplomacy and Development Cooperation . Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2022, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0311
Further details about Creative Commons licenses are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web
Updated digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0311#resources
Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher.
ISBN Paperback: 9781800647930
ISBN Hardback: 9781800647947
ISBN Digital (PDF): 9781800647954
ISBN Digital ebook (EPUB): 9781800647961
ISBN Digital ebook (AZW3): 9781800647978
ISBN XML: 9781800647985
ISBN Digital ebook (HTML): 9781800647992
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0311
Cover image: Basket-tray from Sudan (2015). Photo by King muh, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:African_Sudan_Art_Basket-Tray.jpg . Cover design by Katy Saunders.

Contents
Figures and Illustrations ix
Additional Resources ix
Foreword xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Acronyms and Abbreviations xv
1. A Book about People: The Stories of the g7+ 1
Behind the Scenes 7
The Book 11
2. How to Find a Voice: On Being an Accidental Diplomat for the New Deal 15
The Need to Listen 20
Trust is the Most Valuable Currency 24
Be Wary of the Annotated Agenda: Donor Pressures and the Problem of Empty Participation 27
The Search for a Voice 31
Avoid Hoarseness: Trying to Keep Up with SDG 16 38
Have your People in the Room: Seeking UN Observer Status 47
3. How to Use your Survival Skills (to Survive Monitoring and Evaluation): On Patience, Opportunities and Cooperation 57
Find Yourself Something Sacred and Go Beyond Survival: Valuing Peace and Solidarity 60
Have Patience But Be Strategic About It: The Symbolism of Fragile-to-Fragile Cooperation (F2F) 67
Seize and Multiply Opportunities for Yourself and Others: The Paths Towards Greater Equality 76
Make Changes and See Things Through 84
4. How to Work with Passion: On the Value of Doing Things Together 87
Togetherness Is a Value and a Practice: Harnessing Commonalities in Order to Move Forward 91
Living with Frustration but Leaving No-One Behind: Monitoring the SDGs 96
Putting Solidarity into Practice: Conflict Mediation in the Central African Republic 105
Challenges to Passion and Solidarity: Seeking Flexibility in the Face of an Obsession with Templates 113
5. How to Decide Where your Pride Fits: The ‘Fragile States’ Label and the Need for a Unified Front 119
Proud to Start With: Raising the Ownership Flag 124
How to Decide Where your Pride Belongs: Shame and the World of International Experts 130
The Micro and Macro Challenges to Pride: Geopolitical Negotiations and National Priorities 141
What (Then) of Pride? 149
6. How to Act Responsibly: On the Sense of Duty 151
Advocating for Context and Country Leadership on Peace and Development 165
Making Sure Assessments Do Not Become Ends in Themselves 169
Multiplying Impacts: Responsibilities Go Up and Down 171
Strengthening Within: Finding Cohesion with a Diverse Group 176
Engendering Interest and Responsibility in the Next Generations 179
7. The Way Forward 181
The Next Generations 185
Bibliography 189
Videos 197
g7+ Publications 198
ANNEX I: g7+ Statements — A Selection 199
1. 10 April 2010, Dili, Timor-Leste 199
2. Port-au-Prince 203
3. Lomé 204
4. Kabul 205
5. Lisbon 207
ANNEX II: Fragility Spectrum 209
ANNEX III: g7+ Fragility Assessments 211
ANNEX IV: Chronology of g7+’s Main Events Since 2010 213
ANNEX V: 2030 Agenda: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 215
ANNEX VI: 20 Targets Chosen in a 2016 Technical Meeting 217
ANNEX VII: g7+ Statement of Solidarity and Cooperation: ‘A call for concerted support in our efforts to curb COVID-19’ (March 2020) 221
Index 225

g7+ member countries (2020)
Afghanistan
Liberia
Burundi
Papua New Guinea
Central African Republic ( CAR)
São Tomé e Príncipe
Chad
Sierra Leone
Comoros
Solomon Islands
Côte D’Ivoire
Somalia
Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC)
South Sudan
Guinea
Timor-Leste
Guinea-Bissau
Togo
Haiti
Yemen

Figures and Illustrations
Fig. 1
New Deal’s PSGs, TRUST and FOCUS. Author’s own elaboration.
29
Fig. 2
Letter from an 11-year-old friend that Siafa Hage received while already living in the US.
86
Cartoons by Luiz Matheus Ribeiro da Silva (Ribs), June 2020.
Strips by Carolina Avelino Cardoso (Ina), June 2020.
Cartoons ands strips are unnumbered.
Additional Resources
Photo Archive of the g7+ Secretariat
The photo archive of the g7+ Secretariat is available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/195846664@N05/ . The archive contains photos of people discussed in the book, as well as of individuals who have played an important role in the g7+ .

Foreword

© 2022 E.P. Xanana Gusmão, CC BY-NC 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0311.08
The second decade of the twenty-first century dawned with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected everyone around the world. However, the severity and longevity of its impacts have not been equal for all countries. It has adversely affected conflict-affected countries much more than other nations. The pandemic has highlighted social, political, and economic inequalities that have been present for a long time, and it has revealed the fragility of an international system that has been ruled by a select few countries. The unequal distribution of vaccines speaks very loudly to this reality, despite the fact that no one is safe from the virus until everyone is safe.
As the world started to heave a sigh of relief as the pandemic has started to recede, we have witnessed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a tragedy familiar to many of us. Although this is not the first war of its type taking place in this century, its impacts are being felt even in the most distant parts of the world. The brunt of the indirect socio-economic impacts of this invasion are very deeply felt in the world’s so-called fragile and conflict-affected countries. These impacts have included an economic depression characterised by spikes in inflation, shortages of food and geopolitical tensions that will affect peace and stability in many of these countries. The war in Ukraine and the associated global instability are indicative of the hegemonic nature of world politics and how it has been hindering peace for decades. The world might have been considered peaceful by many standards since the Second World War, but, for a large majority of its countries, it has been hostile, unstable and chaotic, as these places still experience colonization, aggressions, civil wars, natural crises, fragility and poverty.
Many factors are at play. However, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine can be perceived as litmus tests for the resilience and relevance of the global policies and institutions that have been put in place to ensure shared peace and stability in the world. These events speak volumes as to how inclusive and effective they have been. As most of the United Nations ( UN) members denounce the war on Ukraine, the conflict has continued with greater intensity. While a majority of UN members have called for the COVID-19 vaccines to be declared a global public good, free of patents, the suggestion was met with refusals by the very few powerful nations that produce vaccines and that can use the crisis to amass more power.
The leaders and people of many countries have been struggling to raise their voices about these injustices and others for years now. They have actively engaged in debates and advocacy to reform the current inter