The “Rereading the State ‘from Below’, in Fragile States and Societies in Conflict” project was initiated in early 2022 and should yield publications and applications for external funding by late 2024. In June 2022, project members organized the first virtual meeting of the network, which allowed the broader appropriation of the project by colleagues at uOttawa and in universities in the South. In February 2023, a second virtual meeting was organized, with an expanded network of colleagues and partners. This meeting allowed the team to establish working groups in/for each country:

• Burkina Faso, led by Zakaria Soré at Joseph Ki-Zerbo University and Philippe Frowd at uOttawa
• Haiti, led by Stephen Baranyi and Célia Romulus at uOttawa
• Lebanon, led by Ruby Dagher at uOttawa and Jamal Mouawad at the American University of Beirut
• Mali, led by Abdoul Sogodogo at the University of Bamako and Sadio Soukouna at UQAM

Research has progressed, with an interim report released in June 2023, supplemented by grants from both CIPS and the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa.

With the release of a second interim report in May 2024, literature reviews for Burkina Faso, Lebanon, and Haiti were completed – at that point, the project moved forward with only these three countries, with the intention of conducting primary research. While attempts to conduct detailed research in these countries have been frustrated by various military conflicts, unstable forms of governance, and terrorism, the political instability of these countries only validates the need for further research.

With an expected completion of the project in June 2026, “Rereading the State ‘from Below'” will begin to produce case studies of these fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS) based on already completed primary research, with a interim presentation of this project’s results likely to be organized by CIPS in October 2025. “Rereading the State ‘from Below'” will also synthesize its research together, submitting the four manuscripts to an intensive process of scientific review, while additionally looking at the viability of organizing a future externally-funded project.