which is the basis for operations . Ultimately , as Hart and Von Clausewitz pointed out , operations and planning are nothing unless they lead not simply towards a moment of victory , but in turn towards a goal of peace and security .
Francis Fukuyama famously declared the emergence of liberal democracy to be “ the End of History .
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” By this he meant that it represented the ideal form of government , and any further evolution would be limited to refinements in its process , but not its nature . This is an arguable premise in the best of circumstances . The nature and philosophy of governance continues to evolve even within the stable democracies of the West . The last decade has seen a worrisome reversal in the number and stability of democratically-governed states , many of which were the product of Western interventions . These fragile and conflict-affected states are definitionally the areas in which stabilization and reconstruction missions take place , often being far from the best of circumstances . The World Bank reports 47 that of the 103 countries that experienced civil war between 1945 and 2009 , 55 % relapsed into violence after a cease-fire . Since 2003 , there have been no new civil wars … every one is a relapse into violence .
The transitional environments faced in these R & S operations are areas where governance is definitionally fragmented and dysfunctional . Trust between populations and their governments is at its lowest ebb , along with the willingness to work together toward a shared purpose . Societies themselves are fractured , divided , mistrustful , repressive and antagonistic . In such areas , corruption is usually high , and the mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability within govern-
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