Join us for an event co-organized by the Asia Foundation within the framework of the World Bank Fragility Forum 2024. The discussion will explore an underexamined challenge for middle-income countries experiencing fragility, conflict, and violence: the cross-border and transnational conflict drivers that sustain and fuel subnational violence.
Our distinguished panelists will be Nathan Shea, assistant director of conflict and fragility at the Asia Foundation; Azeema Cheema, the founding director of Verso Consulting, where she leads the portfolio on conflict, fragility and violence; Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director for research at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut; and H.E. Ibrahim Mneimneh, a member of Lebanon’s parliament, and Anne Witkowsky, assistant secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, US Department of State.
The session will feature an exchange of knowledge and experience on preventing and resolving fragility, conflict, and violence in middle-income countries, with the aim of advancing the development agenda in such contexts. In addition to an overview of these dynamics, the panel will feature two case studies from Pakistan and Lebanon, with additional data from other relevant conflicts. Data and analysis are drawn from local and international partners engaged in the U.K.-funded Cross-Border Conflict: Evidence, Policy, and Trends program, and builds upon the World Bank’s 2022 report “Fragility, Conflict and Violence in Middle Income Countries.”
The discussion will examine what sustains subnational conflicts and the challenging transnational and regional systems that support violence. Underneath sustained economic development, market liberalization, and per capita GDP growth, middle-income countries can suffer from social fragility and political and economic marginalization. Long-term political solutions to many intrastate conflicts remain elusive. Cross-border and transnational connections through the movement of people, licit and illicit goods, money, and even ideas can sustain war economies and feed into fragility and violence. During global crises or regional turmoil, these international linkages can impact conflicts in unpredictable ways, potentially leading to rapid increases in violence and deaths.
The event will outline what government and international actors can do (and shouldn’t do) to improve development outcomes in middle-income countries impacted by fragility, conflict, and violence, while minimizing the impact of extreme conflict on those most vulnerable.
This panel will be held in English and moderated by Patrick Barron, the World Bank’s Global Lead for Social Cohesion and Resilience within the Social Sustainability and Inclusion global practice, and will take place on February 28, at 6:15 PM EET and 11:15 AM EST.
Registration for the event must be completed via the World Bank’s official website. Attendees are kindly requested to register through the following link: https://www.worldbank.org/en/events/2024/02/27/fragility-forum-2024#3
