Expanding U.S. Civilian Capacity for Stabilization and Development

Report Cover

CSIS and Brookings just released a new report exploring next steps for reducing the reliance on the military and improving civilian capacity for stabilization and development. The brief follows a February 11, 2009 workshop, co-hosted with Brookings Global Economy and Development and supported by the Connect US Fund, featuring more than 40 experts and practitioners.  This report attempts to capture and distill the themes and insights that emerged over the course of the workshop's exchanges, and it also presents further research questions and future steps.  The paper is divided into five sections:

  1. Rationale for expanding civilian capacity in international development and stabilization.
  2. Proposals for how these objectives could be implemented.
  3. Assessment of the potential political and institutional challenges in implementing the necessary reforms.
  4. Solutions to overcome these challenges.
  5. Questions and issues for further analysis.

The project will publish a more detailed report with our findings and recommendations in the summer of 2009.