Closing the Sovereignty Gap: an Approach to State-Building

The first section of this paper delineates a framework which proposes a set of core
functions that a sovereign state must perform in the modern world. This functional
delineation provides a framework for the calculation of a sovereignty index through
which the sovereignty gap can be measured in a tractable fashion. Once this more
quantitative framework is in place, the progress of or decline in state capabilities to
perform each function severally as well as collectively can be assessed. Moreover, the
index would also allow an overall assessment to be made of whether the multiplicity of
interventions by a wide array of international actors is closing or widening the
sovereignty gap.

The second section of the paper outlines some of the constraints that exist in the current
international system. Mindful of these constraints, the paper then proposes a
reorientation of the international community’s approach to fragile states through the
introduction of state-building or sovereignty strategies. These would be long-term
compacts entered into by a country’s leadership with the international community on
one side, and its citizens on the other. This would integrate the current raft of
interventions in the economic, political, security, judicial, administrative and social
domains into a single strategy designed to close the sovereignty gap within each of the
core state functions and in the state as a whole. The functional delineation proposed
would allow strategies to be designed that are both universal as well as tailored to
context by acknowledging that all states must perform a number of services to meet the
needs of their populations but that the route taken to develop institutional capability
will vary from country to country.

Once such a sovereignty strategy has been prepared, the interventions of the
international community can be calibrated to support and monitor its implementation.
The final section of the paper outlines why there are grounds for hope that the
international system can indeed move forward in this direction.

The approach proposed by this paper is derived from review of a wide body of
academic literature and developmental practice in the form of country strategies and
structural adjustment operations, as well as direct service and advisory roles in postconflict
and transition conditions. Our key focus has been on developing conceptual
frameworks and practical approaches, distilled from academic and business literature
and on-the-ground experience, which can be tailored to context.