ABSTRACT
Stabilization is an increasingly influential concept in security and development circles. It is the object of growing attention amongst military strategists in particular, and stability operations have been applied in at least fifty fragile settings by the United States government alone. 2 However, while it is a veritable growth industry, the conceptual and operational parameters of stabilization continue to be glossed over. Moreover, its record of effectiveness on the ground is comparatively mixed and poorly evaluated as the Introduction makes clear. There is in fact a growing debate on the merits of stabilization and, in some quarters, a critical backlash against both the concept and, in particular, its operationalization. 3
