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United States Institute of Peace

Fragility and Conflict

The Global Fragility Act (GFA) is an ambitious law that makes preventing conflicts and promoting stability in countries prone to conflict a U.S. foreign policy priority. Following years of efforts that overemphasized military operations in response to extremist violence and insurgencies, the GFA requires a long-term investment to address the underlying drivers of conflict. The Biden administration has released a new strategy to implement the GFA with 10-year commitments of assistance to a group of fragile states. The GFA and the new strategy rely, in part, on recommendations made by the USIP-convened Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States.

Under this new strategy, the United States will partner with four countries (Haiti, Libya, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea) and a grouping of West African Coastal States (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea and Togo) to advance peace and security in these nations.

 

Electoral Commission workers show locals through the mock poll booth setup in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, June 2012. (Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade/CC License 2.0)

Papua New Guinea: Election Violence Shows Lack of Trust in the State

To address PNG’s fragility, the U.S. and other donors should engage with local partners and seek to avoid bureaucratic entanglements.
U.S. AFRICOM commander General Stephen Townsend reviews a Mozambican Armed Defense Forces formation alongside the mission force commander for the European Union Training Mission in Mozambique, Nov. 18, 2021. (Patrick Loch/U.S. Africa Command)

Regional Security Support: A Vital First Step for Peace in Mozambique

Southern African countries and Rwanda pulled the country’s north back from the brink. It’s an opportunity that must be seized.
Members of the G9 gang protest the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince. July 26, 2021. (Victor Moriyama/The New York Times)

How to Break the Stalemate in Haiti

The country needs a national dialogue to address a trio of deteriorating political, economic and security crises.
A man walks past the ruins left by years of conflict in the historic center of Benghazi, Libya, on Jan. 20, 2020. (Ivor Prickett/The New York Times)

Implementing the Global Fragility Act: What Comes Next?

U.S. Embassy plans and programs are likely to yield results if the focus is on innovation—not just expenditure.
Street vendors in Cape Haitien, Haiti, July 16, 2021. A cycle of crisis and U.S. intervention in Haiti has persisted for decades, but a new U.S. plan is focused on the long term challenges facing Haiti. (Federico Rios/The New York Times)

Can A New U.S. Plan Finally Give Haiti the Long-Term Framework it Needs?

The Global Fragility Act approach could help stabilize the beleaguered nation, but only if it opens the door to true national inclusion.
Sirte, the former hometown and stronghold of Muammar Qaddafi, stood in ruins in 2020 after battles between Libyan factions. In other locales, local Libyan peacebuilders have been able to halt or avert warfare. (Ivor Prickett/The New York Times)

The New U.S. Plan to Stabilize Conflicts: The Case of Libya

An effort under the Global Fragility Act can build on Libyans’ demonstrated grassroots peacebuilding.
USAID kitchen kits are unloaded at a warehouse in Mozambique, April 2019. A U.S. plan to address conflict prioritizes Mozambique with a coordinated strategy among U.S. diplomacy, development and security agencies. (U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Chris Hibben)

New U.S. Plan to Address Conflict Could Boost Mozambique’s Gains

The country’s designation as a priority under the Global Fragility Act presents an opportunity to address deep-seated drivers of conflict.
Men walk through land cleared by ExxonMobil for an airfield in Komo, Papua New Guinea, on Sept. 20, 2010. (Jes Aznar/The New York Times)

New U.S. Plan is an Opportunity to Deepen Engagement with Papua New Guinea

The Global Fragility Act designation demonstrates the country’s importance in a vital geostrategic region.
Guineans join a 2019 street protest in Conakry to oppose President Alpha Condé’s attempt to change the country’s constitution and obtain a third term in power. Condé’s “constitutional coup” led to an army coup in 2021. ( /CC License 4.0)

A New U.S. Plan to Avert Wider Conflicts in West Africa

The Global Fragility Act updates U.S. efforts for peace in lands bordering the Sahel’s violence.
A Bipartisan Congressional Dialogue with Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) and Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI)

Featured Event

From Stabilization to Prevention: Changing the U.S. Strategy on Violent Conflict

A Bipartisan Congressional Dialogue with Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) and Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) on improving U.S. capacity to prevent and stabilize violent conflicts abroad through better alignment of U.S. government agencies’ efforts.


Watch the discussion

Featured Resources

U.S. Leadership and the Challenge of State Fragility

Fragility Study Group

September 12, 2016

The Fragility Study Group was an independent, non-partisan initiative, jointly convened by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for a New American Security and the U.S. Institute of Peace, to improve the U.S. government’s approach to reducing global fragility.