Editors' Foreword

The international policy community is preoccupied by a purported rise in fragility, conflict, and violence around the world. The World Bank´s 2011 World Development Report cast a spotlight on the many ways collective violence undermines governance and socio-economic development. Likewise, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been working closely with the so-called g7+, a constellation of 19 fragile countries, to re-evaluate the terms by which security and development assistance is issued. Yet amidst all this focus on instability, there is less critical reflection on practical policies and applied practices to promote stability. In other words, we are starting to appreciate the factors that induce fragility but know rather less about how to engender safety and security on the ground.