Nonstate armed actors and the US Global Fragility Strategy: Challenges and opportunities

In December 2020, the United States released its first U.S. “Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability,” as called for in the 2019 Global Fragility Act. To maximize the strategy’s efficacy, the U.S. government must ensure the implementation plan has a clear goal and theory of success, as well as addresses pressing challenges such as the fallout from COVID-19 and efforts to subvert peace. Chief among these challenges will be nonstate armed actors who are an entrenched driver of violence in nearly every potential priority country, from Central America to East Africa and beyond.

On February 18, the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors at Brookings held a panel discussion examining how the U.S. government should think about working with, and through, nonstate armed actors in implementing the fragility strategy. The discussion addressed the following questions: How should the Biden administration approach working with nonstate actors as a potential means to maximize efficacy of conflict prevention and stabilization? What, if any, broader changes should it make to engage such actors? What challenges and opportunities do nonstate armed actors pose in potential priority countries?

After their remarks, panelists took questions from the audience. Viewers submitted questions via email to [email protected] or Twitter using #GlobalFragility.