MYERSON: HOW TO PREPARE FOR STATE-BUILDING (2017)

PUBLISHED ON OCT 3, 2017

What could America do to be better prepared for future international post-conflict political reconstruction, and what are its primary challenges and strategic value? Nobel laureate Roger Myerson, the Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, has published a detailed primer, "How to Prepare for State-Building," (PDF) in PRISM, a publication of the U.S. Department of Defense Center for Complex Operations. Myerson looks at several past examples of state-building missions - as well as recent examples of local governments in other parts of the world - to outline basic principles and caveats, with a focus on developing long-term success strategies, countering over-centralization, and maintaining a balance between national and local levels of government. The full publication (PRISM Volume 7, No. 1, September 2017) can be downloaded at cco.ndu.edu.