ResearchPosted on rand.org Oct 17, 2024Published in: Enhancing Stabilization and Strategic Partnership in a Post-Conflict Environment: A Comprehensive Approach to Human Security, Part II, Chapter IV, pages 89-109 (2024)
This chapter highlights lessons from disaster scholarship and past recovery examples to inform post-war rebuilding, approaching the results of the armed conflict as a nationwide disaster. As such, it contributes to the ongoing discussion on lessons for the international community in strengthening post-conflict stabilization and reconstruction efforts. We examine the risks, vulnerabilities and shortcomings accompanying all reconstruction decisions: when to start, how to prioritise peole, locations and other projects; who should take the lead in directing reconstruction efforts; and who should fund reconstruction. Using Ukraine as an example, we explore how, given the magnitude of community and economic damage Ukraine has endured, recovery stands as an immense challenge requiring careful consideration and good governance. We pair this deep dive into the Ukrainian case study with additional, less-detailed examples to show the applicability of the ideas in other settings. Understanding these trade-offs embedded in recovery choices in this case or any other cases of post-conflict reconstruction can improve the quality of decisions and contribute to the process's transparency and integrity, supporting national unity and trust in the government and civil society.
This publication is part of the RAND external publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.
RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.
