The Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development addresses fragile and conflict situations globally – where countries are failing, or are at risk of failing, with respect to political authority and legitimacy, and providing basic services such as health, education, security, and rule of law.

“We can’t tackle global poverty or, indeed, improve our own security at home, unless we address the challenges caused by state fragility. The Commission aims to generate innovative ideas to help tackle state fragility and state failure, and I am delighted to be working with such a talented team of people.” – David Cameron, Chair

The Commission published a series of recommendations in its report Escaping The Fragility Trap in April 2018. The report highlights the importance of being realistic about what can be achieved in the context of fragility, as well as calling for greater attention to be paid to delivering basic security and jobs in states affected by conflict and instability.

Alongside the main report, the Commission also published a series of five country studies – Afghanistan, Burundi, Lebanon, Pakistan, Sierra Leone – and two background studies, A legitimacy chain approach to security sector reform and Fragility in the data. All of these can be accessed on the IGC's Fragility Commission's webpage.

“Global poverty reduction and the spread of democracy in the past few decades have not been enough to prevent the human tragedies stemming from fragility. We need distinctive policy solutions to address fragility, and those solutions need to be backed by robust evidence.” – Paul Collier, Academic Director

The Commission is co-chaired by David Cameron, former UK Prime Minister, Donald Kaberuka, former President of the African Development Bank and currently the Special Envoy of the African Union Peace Fund, and Adnan Khan, Research and Policy Director of the International Growth Centre. Professors Sir Paul Collier (Blavatnik School of Government) and Tim Besley (LSE) are the academic directors. In addition, eight leading figures from the public sphere, academia, and the private sector serve as commissioners – including the Blavatnik School’s Dean, Professor Ngaire Woods.

The Commission was launched under the auspices of the IGC in March 2017. It is sponsored by LSE and Blavatnik School of Government and funded from the LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact (KEI) Fund and the British Academy’s Sustainable Development Programme through the Global Challenges Research Fund.

Read the report: Escaping the fragility trap