ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book claims that the policy implications of the findings are threefold: greater modesty; better grounding of programming within 'the grain' of societal change; and a more informed understanding of challenging/changing institutions and capacity development. It includes the evidence base around the need for better grounded attempts to engage with and shape post-conflict institutional development. The book describes how the vast sums invested in recovery do indeed ultimately 'add up' to some emergent forms of development, but the investments accumulate over a long period and as part of social processes. It also describes the recognition of the need to find an alternative to isomorphic mimicry, such as when the 2011 World Development Report called for breaking out of technocratic institution-building. The book provides rich learning about the ways in which aid actors could approach post-conflict reconstruction differently.
