Paper Titles & Abstracts

EU support for peace-building and state-building in fragile states and situations in sub-Saharan Africa raises several issues at the interface of security, development and foreign policy. It is often assumed that the EU will become a more influential and effective international actor if there is more convergence in external relations capacities. But is this necessarily the case? This paper addresses two questions: first, what is the relationship between convergence and effectiveness in the EU's engagement with fragile states? Secondly, with regard to implementation, what role do the EU delegations play in coordinating European actors on the ground? The paper discusses these questions with reference to Europe's engagement with South Sudan and Liberia. At the policy level the European approach to fragile states is evolving and although mostly consistent with international norms and best practices, there is still no comprehensive framework outlining European objectives and how these might be achieved. At the implementation level the EU has to respond to criticism that its interventions are ad-hoc, too slow, poorly coordinated and oriented on Europe's own security interests. Delegations play a central role, but their ability to facilitate convergence may constrained by their own lack of capacity and by member state reluctance to coordinate at the country level.