In the midst of the impeachment drama unfolding in Washington, DC a rare thing happened: Republicans and Democrats came together and in an overwhelmingly bi-partisan move, supported a bill known as the Global Fragility Act.

In brief, The Global Fragility Act is intended to address a key gap in how the US government approaches conflict prevention and post-conflict peace-building in what are known as fragile countries. The bill was broadly supported and in part conceived by advocates in the global humanitarian and relief community. And on the line with me to discuss the new Global Fragility Act is Dr. Dafna Rand, vice president of policy and research at Mercy Corps. She is also a former deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor.

The Global Fragility Act is one of those under-the-radar policy stories that has big potential to change key aspects of US policy towards parts of the world beset by instability.

0:56 The Global Fragility Act

3:52 The first exciting aspect of the Global Fragility Act

9:17 Definition of a 'fragile' state

13:41 The second exciting aspect of the Global Fragility Act

15:18 The intended results of the new law

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