Fragile States and Development in West Africa

This volume is a collection of the edited papers presented at an ad hoc experts group meeting on Fragile States and Development in West Africa, organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Sub-Regional Office for West Africa (ECA/SRO-WA) and held in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in March 2011. The meeting was attended by experts from twelve member States of the Economic Community for West African States, the ECOWAS Commission, the West African Economic and Monetary Union, the West African Monetary Institute, the African Development Bank, the Central Bank of West African States, the United Nations Development Program in Sierra Leone, West African Development Bank, civil society organisations and academic institutions. It deliberated on the challenges faced by fragile states in their pursuit of socio-economic development focusing specifically on West Africa. The meeting dealt with both conceptual and empirical issues regarding fragility and post-conflict reconstruction and development.