From June 21-22, officials and investors from around the world are gathering in London for the 2023 Ukraine Recovery Conference. Hostilities in Ukraine are ongoing, but it is not too early to plan post-war reconstruction. Indeed, the United States and Europe have already begun planning what likely will be the most ambitious post-war rebuilding effort in modern history.
As we explain in our new RAND Corp. report, Ukraine will be far different from recent post-war reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ukraine is a European state, and the war has been unifying, not divisive. Its rebuilding will resemble that of Western Europe after World War II, Eastern Europe after the Cold War and the Western Balkans after the violent breakup of Yugoslavia. The lessons of these episodes should inform Ukraine's reconstruction.…
The remainder of this commentary is available at defensenews.com.
Howard J. Shatz is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation, where Gabrielle Tarini is an associate policy researcher, Charles P. Ries is a senior fellow, and James Dobbins is the distinguished chair in security and diplomacy.
This commentary originally appeared on Defense News on June 21, 2023. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
