Building Institutions Amid Geopolitical Conflict

Building Institutions Amid Geopolitical Conflict: Lessons for Australian Foreign Assistance in Contested Spaces

Abstract:

In the coming decade, Australia will spend considerable time and resources resisting Chinese aggression towards their mutual neighbours in the South China Sea and Pacific. Key to Canberra’s success will be strengthening government and non-government institutions in vulnerable countries. Drawing heavily from US state-building efforts in Afghanistan and Australia’s efforts closer to home, join us for a discussion on the lessons of building institutions in contested spaces, and how they should inform Australian government policy in Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and beyond.

Bios:

Gene Aloise is the Deputy Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), where he oversees the agency’s day-to-day operations. Prior to his 12 years at SIGAR, he served at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for 38 years. He has testified before Congress more than 50 times, and was responsible for hundreds of reports with recommendations that led to legislative improvements, improved agency effectiveness and efficiency, and identified more than US $8 billion in savings to tax payers.

David Young is the Deputy Director of the Lessons Learned Program at SIGAR. He is the lead author of SIGAR’s lessons learned reports on US stabilization efforts, US support to elections, the agency’s 20 year anniversary report “What We Need to Learn”, and the Congressionally mandated report, “Why the Afghan Security Forces Collapsed”. He has extensive field experience in conflict environments including Afghanistan, the Sahel, Israel/Palestine, the Balkans, the Caucusus, and Northern Ireland.

Enquiries: Dr Srinjoy Bose

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