With its international relations and development
roots, this concept grew in relevance and use within
the international development community. For in-
stance, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) developed the following
state fragility definition for its Principles for Good In-
ternational Engagement in Fragile States and Situations
report:
[s]tates are fragile when state structures lack political
will and/or capacity to provide the basic functions
needed for poverty reduction, development and to
safeguard the security and human rights of their pop-
ulations (OECD 2007: 2).^3However, as USAID applied the fragility concept, it
broadened this definition, not only to describe the state
but also to encompass the “relationship between the
state and civil society, especially in terms of how that
relationship is perceived by individuals and groups
within that state” (USAID 2009, 8). Although seem-
ingly a small change, this conceptual enhancement
helps to more precisely differentiate instability and
fragility as well to set relevant boundaries in a man-
ner which better inform policymaking and resource
prioritization. Fragility became an effective descrip-
tor of the relationship between a state and its populace
further broken down by legitimacy and effectiveness
across security, political, economic, and social dynam-
ics. In this form, it is gaining acceptance within the
development community and traction across the USG.
- Subsequent OECD publications adopted a fragility def -
inition similar to the definitions of USAID and Army FM 3-07,
which focus on the fragility of the dynamic relationship between
capacities of the state and populace (OECD 2008).