This paper explores how the concept of ‘political settlement’ in statebuilding arose, identifies its essential elements, the level of consensus around them, and tests out some of its normative content. Abstract Over the past five years, several major international development policy statements and declarations have adopted ‘political settlement’ as a framing concept to guide statebuilding...

Introduction The Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was the first truth commission in the Pacific, established under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act 2008 (TRC Act) in an effort to ‘promote national unity and reconciliation’ following the civil conflict which troubled the country between 1998 and 2003. The commission was publicly launched in...

This report presents the findings from the 2014 Global Peace Index, and includes an updated analysis of the economic impact of violence and a detailed assessment of country risk.

Myanmar’s controversial census has inflamed ethnic tensions at a critical moment in the peace process, argues this report. Overview Myanmar’s first census in over 30 years, an ambitious project conducted in April 2014 with technical advice from the UN and significant funding from bilateral donors, has proved to be highly controversial and deeply divisive. A...

Summary In this Analysis Lowy Institute Melanesia Program Director, Jenny Hayward-Jones, argues that Australia’s massive expenditure of $2.6 billion on the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) was a high price to pay for restoring stability in a small country. She argues that although there were many laudable achievements, the key lesson of RAMSI...