Partnerships for Peace and Development in Fragile States: Identifying Missing Links

• Published in: Academy of Management perspectives 2015-11, Vol.29 (4), p.422-437
• Main Authors: Kolk, Ans, Lenfant, François
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Africa; Collaboration; Partnering; Peace negotiations; Reconciliation; State; States; Studies
• ISSN: 1558-9080; 1943-4529
• DOI: 10.5465/amp.2013.0122

Literature on partnerships has grown rapidly in the past decade across different disciplines. However, despite conceptual attention to the value of strategic multi-stakeholder collaboration to promote peace and reconciliation, challenges posed by post-conflict fragile contexts have barely been considered in empirical studies. In this article we contribute by bringing together debates from different partnership literatures and providing an overview of existing, relatively limited research insights on partnerships for peace in fragile states. We present a typology of different levels (local, national, and international) at which collaboration takes place and different types of partnerships (philanthropic, transactional, engagement, and transformative). This is illustrated with specific attention to Africa, where most fragile states are found, and to partnerships with transformative potential. The analysis suggests that the lowest-level (i.e., local) partnerships tend to exclude the national government, while the most recent international, multilaterally driven collaboration has not included business; national cases are most transformative but incidental and not yet leveraged internationally. Despite the interconnected nature of conflict and fragility issues, linkages between partnerships and partners at different levels are largely missing, offering potential for further development by a broad spectrum of scholars and thought leaders. Insights from extreme and unconventional contexts thus have relevance for management research more generally.