ABSTRACT
In the twenty-first century the issue of post-conflict state-building and international attempts to prevent and manage the consequences of state failure have become major questions on the international policy agenda. In the wake of 9/11 and the problems of international intervention and administrative regulation in Afghanistan and Iraq, the international engagement in, and management of, state capacitybuilding initiatives has become central to international concerns. Not only are international state-building measures held to be necessary to ensure the protection of peoples from the threat of human rights abuse but also to prevent terrorist cells from operating with impunity where states are too weak to police their borders and enforce the rule of law.
