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Insecurity in the 21st century appears to come less from the collisions of powerful states than from the debris of imploding ones. Failed states present a variety of dangers: religious and ethnic violence; trafficking of drugs, weapons, blood diamonds, and humans; transnational crime and piracy; uncontrolled territory, borders, and waters; terrorist breeding grounds and sanctuaries; refugee overflows; communicable diseases; environmental degradation; and warlords and stateless armies. Regions with failed states are at risk of becoming failed regions, like the vast triangle from Sudan to the Congo to Sierra Leone. For security, material, and moral reasons, leading states cannot ignore failed ones. While no two failed states are alike, all typically suffer from cycles of violence, economic breakdown, and unfit government, rendering them unable to relieve the suffering of their people, much less empower them. This paper aims to improve the understanding and treatment of failed states by offering an integrated approach based on two ideas: that certain critical challenges at the intersections between security, economics, and politics must be met if the cycle is to be broken and that, in meeting those critical challenges, the guiding goal should be to lift local populations from the status of victims of failure to agents of recovery

Recent studies indicate potential links among work organization, job stress, and work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMDs). In this paper we propose several pathways for a theoretical relationship between job stress and WRMDs. These pathways highlight the physiological, psychological, and behavioral reactions to stress that can affect WRMDs directly and indirectly. One model stipulates that psychosocial work factors (e.g., work pressure, lack of control), which can cause stress, might also influence or be related to ergonomic factors such as force, repetition, and posture that have been identified as risk factors for WRMDs. In order to fully understand the etiology of WRMDs, it is important to examine both physical ergonomic and psychosocial work factors simultaneously. Smith and Carayon-Sainfort (1989) have proposed a model of the work system for stress management that provides a useful framework for conceptualizing the work-related factors that contribute to WRMDs. Practical applications of this research include practitioners taking into account psychosocial work factors and job stress in their efforts to reduce and control WRMDs.

Humanitarian assistance has long been a part of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in direct support of the broader strategic goals underlying U.S. policy, such as reconstruction and stabilization. Thus, although they are often short-term, such projects must be designed and implemented with a longer-term vision so they are compatible with these broader policy goals. Project assessment is central to achieving this objective. In response, the Office of the Secretary of Defense asked RAND to develop a handbook to support the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of humanitarian assistance projects to assist DoD staff and their civilian counterparts in developing, monitoring, and assessing these projects and in collaborating to achieve broader strategic-level goals. The prototype handbook includes two parts: an M&E primer, which provides a thorough introduction to M&E terms, approaches, and best practices, and a step-by-step user's guide to walk project teams through the data collection and monitoring processes at various stages, including project planning, implementation, completion, and follow-up. It also includes guidelines for involving the local population and avoiding bias when conducting surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The accompanying worksheets guide users through the planning and monitoring requirements for humanitarian assistance projects, including management and core indicators for all humanitarian assistance projects and additional indicators for each specific type of project currently undertaken by DoD. Further testing and feedback from project staff in the field will help refine the prototype handbook and increase its utility in future project assessment initiatives

Hope for a prosperous and peaceful future for Haiti lies in building a more effective, resilient state. This report identifies the main challenges to more capable governance, evaluates existing plans for improving the delivery of public services, and proposes a realistic set of critical actions. The proposed state-building priorities merit the greatest degree of Haiti's andinternational donors' policy attention and financial commitment.