Search

Begin New Search Content Type Working Paper Publishing Institution International Peace Institute Publication Year within 25 Years

1. UN Peacekeeping and the Protection of Civilians from Sexual and GenderBased Violence

Author:
Jenna Russo
Publication Date:
05-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
While all UN multidimensional peacekeeping operations are mandated to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), the missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, as well as in the Central African Republic, are also mandated to protect civilians from sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). While SGBV is often used and understood interchangeably with CRSV, SGBV is broader in scope, as it encompasses nonsexual forms of gender-based violence and need not be connected to armed conflict. This report examines how missions are implementing their mandates to protect civilians from SGBV, including CRSV, and assesses good practices, gaps, and opportunities for improvement. The report draws on lessons learned from the UN missions in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the DRC (MONUSCO). It considers how the complexities of preventing and responding to SGBV necessitate a whole-of-mission approach to the protection of civilians (POC) that encompasses not only physical protection from violence but also activities that address cultural norms related to gender, strengthen the rule of law, and enhance women’s participation. This report thus considers a range of protection activities carried out by missions, as well as structures and processes that promote the effective integration of gender into mission planning and activities. The paper concludes with several recommendations for UN peacekeeping missions, the UN Department of Peace Operations (DPO), and member states on the Security Council to strengthen work on SGBV: Provide clear guidance on what it means to protect civilians from SGBV as part of a peacekeeping mandate; Systematically and meaningfully integrate gender advisers and women’s protection advisers into POC planning at the strategic and operational levels; Include gender-sensitive indicators in monitoring and reporting systems and prioritize the gathering of sex-disaggregated data; Take a holistic approach to protecting civilians from violence, recognizing the risks of armed responses and prioritizing partnerships; and Continue to combat impunity and engage with governments and armed groups to promote accountability.
Topic:
Security, Peacekeeping, Women, Gender Based Violence, Sexual Violence, Peace, Civilians, and Protection
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. SDG Zero? A People-Centered Approach to Universal Connectivity

Author:
Jimena Leiva Roesch
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
As the COVID-19 pandemic has increased reliance on digital technologies, it has highlighted the growing digital divide between and within societies. Universal access to the digital world has become more urgent than ever, and failure to achieve it could undermine progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. While closing the digital divide and increasing connectivity are among the UN secretary-general’s priorities for 2021, this goal remains elusive and faces many obstacles. One challenge is the lack of a shared understanding of what universal connectivity means. It is not just a technical challenge; it also requires addressing questions related to adoption, usage, accessibility, and the relevance and veracity of content. Another challenge is that funding for digital connectivity is uncoordinated and not easily accessible by those who need it most. There is also a lack of concerted leadership and coherent governance structures at all levels. Moreover, getting the framing right is key. National, global, and local leaders need to establish clear and compelling links between universal connectivity and the 2030 Agenda with its message to “leave no one behind.” Addressing these challenges requires a human-centered, human rights–based approach. Connectivity comes with risks, including privacy issues, misinformation and hate speech, and online violence and sexual harassment. While discussions on universal connectivity have gained momentum, these human rights considerations often remain an afterthought. Governments, businesses, and civil society need to understand connectivity as a right whose protection is their shared responsibility. Ultimately, bridging the digital divide requires a stronger and more inclusive multilateral system. Geopolitics, a lack of shared understanding, knowledge gaps, and suspicion between actors continue to hold back digital cooperation at the UN. Governments need to meaningfully include private sector and civil society actors in formal decision-making processes. In parallel, the UN should create informal platforms to build trust among stakeholders. To achieve meaningful and sustainable progress toward digital inclusion, all actors need to commit to working through a multi-stakeholder platform.
Topic:
Human Rights, Science and Technology, Sustainable Development Goals, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. The Role of Local Governance in Sustaining Peace

Author:
Alain Tschudin and Albert Trithart
Publication Date:
02-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
While the importance of good governance to sustaining peace is widely recognized, the focus tends to be on national governance. This overlooks the crucial role of local governance actors, particularly when the central government is fragmented or lacks broad legitimacy. These actors include not only formal institutions like municipal governments but also a mix of other actors that could range from traditional chieftaincies to community-based organizations to religious institutions.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Comparative Continuismo: Presidential Term Limit Contravention Across Developing Democracies

Author:
Kristin McKie
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Since presidential term limits were (re)adopted into many constitutions during the third wave of democratization, 207 presidents across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia have reached the end of their terms in office. Of these, 30% have attempted to contravene term limits whereas 70% have stepped down in compliance with tenure rules. Furthermore, of the presidents who have attempted to alter tenure restrictions, some have succeeded in fully abolishing term limits, others have only managed a one-term extension, while a minority have failed in their bids to secure any additional terms in office. What explains these divergent trajectories? On the basis of a series of statistical analyses, I argue that trends in electoral competition over time are the best predictor of the range of term limit contravention outcomes across the board, with the least competitive elections permitting full term limit abolition and the most competitive elections saving off attempts at altering executive tenure rules. Furthermore, results show that failed contravention attempts are true borderline cases, rather than instances gross miscalculations of success by the president and her party, in that they feature less competitive elections than non-attempt cases but more competitive elections than successful contravention cases. These findings suggest a linkage between political uncertainty and constitutional stability more generally.
Topic:
International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

5. Leveraging Local Knowledge for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding in Africa

Author:
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin
Publication Date:
03-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The call for national and local ownership of peacebuilding and statebuilding design and practice has grown louder in recent years. The principles of leveraging local knowledge and attending to local context have gained increasing prominence and visibility in international policy. Standards of field practice for international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and peacebuilding missions now regularly include consultation of local perspectives and engagement of local actors. But regional, national, and community-level knowledge have not found effective channels to influence and inform the international decision-making process. Translating these principles into practice—in terms of peacebuilding and statebuilding mechanisms, processes, and programs on the ground—is an enduring challenge for the United Nations and international actors.
Topic:
Government and United Nations
Political Geography:
Africa

6. Deploying Combined Teams: Lessons Learned from Operational Partnerships in UN Peacekeeping

Author:
Adam Smith, Paul D. Williams, and Donald C.F. Daniel
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Only fifteen United Nations’ member states provide more than 60 percent of the 104,000 UN uniformed personnel deployed worldwide. How can a more equitable sharing of the global peacekeeping burden be produced that generates new capabilities for UN operations? Operational partnerships are one potentially useful mechanism to further this agenda. They are partnerships that occur when military units from two or more countries combine to deploy as part of a peacekeeping operation. This report assesses the major benefits and challenges of these partnerships for UN peace operations at both the political and operational levels.
Topic:
International Organization, United Nations, Reform, and Partnerships
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. Europe’s Return to UN Peacekeeping in Africa? Lessons from Mali

Author:
John Karlsrud and Adam C. Smith
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In a break from recent tradition, European member states are currently contributing significant military capabilities to a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operation in Africa. Europeans are providing more than 1,000 troops to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) by staffing a wide range of operations including an intelligence fusion cell, transport and attack aircraft, and special forces. Yet for European troop-contributing countries (TCCs) that have spent several years working in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operations in Afghanistan, participating in a UN mission has been a process of learning and adaptation. For the UN, the contributions of key capabilities by European countries have pushed the UN system to adjust to the higher expectations of the new European TCCs, which has proved difficult in Mali’s complicated operating environment and political situation.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Regional Cooperation, International Security, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Africa and Mali

8. Safety and Security Challenges in UN Peace Operations

Author:
Haidi Willmot, Scott Sheeran, and Lisa Sharland
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Since the tragic bombing of the UN headquarters in Iraq in 2003, a concerted effort has been made to improve and strengthen security arrangements across the UN system. However, too often, security issues are perceived as primarily technical matters that are not prioritized as strategically and politically important. This report takes stock of the strategic impact of safety and security for effective peace operations by outlining the evolving, increasingly hostile security context into which operations are being deployed and its implications for personnel. The authors assess existing UN management structures, policies, and processes to identify potential areas of reform. As they examine the diverse range of challenges and considerations for improving security of UN peace operations, they argue that effective security is about protecting UN personnel while enabling, not limiting, operational activity.
Topic:
Security, United Nations, Peacekeeping, and Reform
Political Geography:
Global Focus

9. Why We Fail to Prevent Mass Atrocities

Author:
Alex J. Bellamy and Adam Lupel
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In the twenty years since the Rwandan genocide, the United Nations has developed an extensive body of policies, principles, and institutions dedicated to preventing mass atrocity crimes. But in recent years the killing of unarmed civilians has become all too prevalent again, from Syria to Iraq and South Sudan to the Central African Republic. So why does atrocity prevention fail? This is the central question addressed in the International Peace Institute’s new report, “Why We Fail: Obstacles to the Effective Prevention of Mass Atrocity.” The report explores the principal obstacles to effective prevention efforts and the strategies needed to improve the UN’s ability to respond. It considers the UN’s opportunities and constraints in different contexts, where the world body has a substantial field presence or limited or no presence on the ground
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Political Violence, Peacekeeping, and War Crimes
Political Geography:
Global Focus

10. Reimagining Peacemaking: Women’s Roles in Peace Processes

Author:
Marie O'Reilly, Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, and Thania Paffenholz
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Peace and political transition processes provide key opportunities to transform institutions, structures, and relationships in societies affected by conflict or crises. Despite these wide-ranging implications, women’s participation in formal peacemaking remains low. And empirical evidence regarding the impact of women’s participation on peace has been lacking. The International Peace Institute’s new report, “Reimagining Peacemaking: Women’s Roles in Peace Processes” examines the challenges and opportunities presented by women’s participation in peace and transition processes. It shares new quantitative and qualitative evidence on the impact of this participation and explores models and strategies for strengthening women’s influence throughout mediated processes. Based on research carried out at the International Peace Institute in New York and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, the new report shows how the lag in women’s participation is linked to broader dilemmas in the peacemaking landscape today. Drawing on a comparative study of forty peace and transition processes from the Broadening Participation Project, it demonstrates that when women are able to effectively influence a peace process, a peace agreement is almost always reached and the agreement is more likely to be implemented. The report also features a case study on two distinct peace processes in the Philippines, where an unprecedented level of women’s participation offers lessons on their influence
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, United Nations, Peacekeeping, and Women
Political Geography:
Global Focus

11. Silencing the Guns: Strengthening Governance to Prevent, Manage, and Resolve Conflicts in Africa

Author:
Gilbert Khadiagala
Publication Date:
05-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Since independence, African states and organizations have made significant investments in conflict management and resolution tools. So why do some African states and regions remain saddled by conflict and instability? How can African states leverage democratic governance to end wars? The new report Silencing the Guns suggests that the key to ending conflict in Africa lies in fostering effective governance and creating political and economic institutions that can effectively prevent, manage, and resolve conflicts. Author Gilbert Khadiagala unpacks how and why democratic governance is linked to conflict prevention and management, and provides an overview of landmark trends that have influenced governance in Africa since the 1950s. He shows that not all forms of democratic governance reduce conflicts and examines the ways in which “developmental dictatorships,” corruption, and the privatization of security are posing obstacles for governance and peace today.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Democratization, and Governance
Political Geography:
Africa

12. Europe’s Return to UN Peacekeeping in Africa? Lessons from Mali

Author:
John Karlsrud and Adam C. Smith
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In a break from recent tradition, European member states are currently contributing significant military capabilities to a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operation in Africa. Europeans are providing more than 1,000 troops to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) by staffing a wide range of operations including an intelligence fusion cell, transport and attack aircraft, and special forces. Yet for European troop-contributing countries (TCCs) that have spent several years working in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operations in Afghanistan, participating in a UN mission has been a process of learning and adaptation. For the UN, the contributions of key capabilities by European countries have pushed the UN system to adjust to the higher expectations of the new European TCCs, which has proved difficult in Mali’s complicated operating environment and political situation.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, NATO, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Africa and Europe

13. Engineering Peace: The Critical Role of Engineers in UN Peacekeeping

Author:
Arthur Boutellis and Adam Smith
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The UN Security Council mandates peacekeeping operations in some of the poorest, most conflict-prone areas of the world. These locations are often also extremely remote and nearly inaccessible. In this context, engineering is one of the most critical elements to the functioning of a UN peace operation; yet, it may be the least critically analyzed aspect of peacekeeping. During the start-up phase of a mission, engineers design, prepare, and build the camps that allow the mission to exist. Very little can be achieved in peacekeeping without sanitary and secure camps with electricity and passable roads or functional air strips. When there are engineering gaps coupled with major logistical challenges (as in the UN Mission in South Sudan), key elements of the mandate, such as the protection of civilians or support to the extension of state authority, become much more difficult, and sometimes impossible, to fulfill. During the mission consolidation phase, engineers can play a central role in the peacebuilding support tasks of a mission, working with the host country, UN agencies, and others to build capacity and deliver peace dividends.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Development, Peace Studies, Science and Technology, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
United Nations

14. United Nations Sanctions on Iran and North Korea: An Implementation Manual

Author:
Enrico Carisch and Loraine Rickard-Martin
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
This manual is intended as a tool for officials of UN member states, international organizations, companies, and corporations to support sanctions implementation. The manual delivers to frontline actors in the public and private sectors specific guidance to enable more effective compliance with UN non-proliferation sanctions on Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Sanctions
Political Geography:
Iran, Middle East, North Korea, and United Nations

15. Sanctions Implementation and the UN Security Council: The Case for Greater Transparency

Author:
Astrid Forberg Ryan
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
While it is the responsibility of member states to ensure that sanctions adopted by the United Nations Security Council are implemented, the council plays an equally important role in facilitating and promoting effective implementation. This paper discusses the role of the Security Council with a view to providing guidance for those involved in the council's work, making the case for greater transparency. It briefly reviews current council practices and procedures relating to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran sanctions regimes, including the working methods of the 1718 and 1737 Committees, and it identifies possible options for the council aimed at enhancing sanctions implementation through transparency-related measures.
Topic:
Human Rights, International Cooperation, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Sanctions
Political Geography:
Iran and United Nations

16. Terminating Security Council Sanctions

Author:
Kristen E. Boon
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
This report assesses the United Nations Security Council's current approach to drawing down sanctions in intrastate war situations. After examining broader questions surrounding the UN's authority to impose sanctions and the corresponding limits on these powers, this report assesses criteria used by the council to terminate sanctions. It observes that multilateral sanctions under the UN Security Council tend to last substantially longer than sanctions by regional organizations, such as the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); and it argues that short sanctions periods are preferable to long sanctions periods.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, International Trade and Finance, and Sanctions
Political Geography:
Africa and United Nations

17. Small States at the United Nations: Diverse Perspectives, Shared Opportunities

Author:
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Small states make up the majority of United Nations member states, and they are among the strongest advocates for the rules-based multilateral system. Yet many small states face challenges in advancing their interests at the UN. Drawing on the insights and ideas of 54 small-state UN missions, this report explores the strengths and challenges of small-state diplomacy at the UN. While small states have made significant contributions to policy development and debates at the UN, the author finds that small states share key challenges to participating effectively in diplomacy and policymaking at the UN-particularly in terms of asymmetric access to information, capacity constraints, and structural barriers in the UN system. The report identifies opportunities for strategic cooperation among small states and offers practical recommendations for addressing their shared challenges. These include, for example, streamlining the UN's information delivery processes, enhancing the accessibility of Secretariat personnel, and developing training and guidance for mission personnel on technical and procedural matters at the UN.
Topic:
International Relations, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United Nations

18. The Political Economy of UN Peacekeeping: Incentivizing Effective Participation

Author:
Katharina P. Coleman
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The United Nations (UN) has a unique set of mechanisms for financing its peacekeeping operations, and it can draw on significant funding for this purpose: total authorized expenditure for the 2013-2014 budget year was $7.54 billion. These resources allow the UN to employ civilian peacekeepers, enter into commercial contracts for its peacekeeping missions, and shape the financial incentives of states deciding whether and how to participate in a UN peacekeeping operation. Ideally, UN peacekeeping financing mechanisms should incentivize timely state contributions of highly effective peacekeeping units willing to make full use of their capabilities.
Topic:
International Cooperation and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Africa and United Nations

19. From the Margins to the Mainstream: Toward an Integrated Multilateral Response to Organized Crime

Author:
Walter Kemp and Mark Shaw
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Since the end of the Cold War, organized crime has moved from being a marginal problem in a few cities and regions to being a mainstream threat to national stability and international peace and security. While the threat has become transnational, the multilateral response has been slow, disjointed, and reactive. Broad structural changes are needed to deal more effectively with illicit trafficking and other activities of organized criminal groups. This new report—the third in a trilogy of publications by the "Peace without Crime" project of the International Peace Institute (IPI)—calls for a more integrated multilateral response to organized crime. It highlights the impact of organized crime, provides an overview of international efforts made to tackle the problem, and suggests steps toward a more effective response.
Topic:
Cold War, Crime, International Cooperation, and Governance

20. Rethinking Peacebuilding: Transforming the UN Approach

Author:
Michael von der Schulenburg
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Since the end of the Cold War, the UN has found itself intervening directly within its member states to help them end intrastate conflicts and rebuild their war-torn countries. Peacekeeping missions that were originally designed to keep opposing national armies apart and that had the consent of the host state are now expected to secure a much more comprehensive peace, intervene much more deeply in states' internal affairs—with tenuous legitimacy—and resolve active conflicts where there is no "peace" to keep.
Topic:
Cold War, Peace Studies, War, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
United Nations

21. Mediating Transition in Yemen: Achievements and Lessons

Author:
Steven A. Zyck
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Yemen remains the only site of an Arab Spring uprising that has ended in a negotiated agreement and a structured, internationally supported transition process. As Jamal Benomar, the United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Yemen, stated, “Yemen was definitely heading towards a Syria-type scenario” before international actors, including the United Nations (UN), helped to shepherd a complex transition process, which continues at the time of writing. Benomar, with support from a wide array of stakeholders, helped avert an escalating conflict in Yemen by stepping in to offer the good offices of the UN secretarygeneral without waiting for the UN Security Council or the embattled Yemeni regime to demand UN action. Benomar's interventions— including bringing Yemen's major political parties together amid the uprising—helped ensure that the country did not devolve into civil war when President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down after thirty-three years in power. That is, the UN opened a space for dialogue where none had previously been considered possible.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Democratization, Treaties and Agreements, and Popular Revolt
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arabia, and Syria

22. New Report Examines East Africa and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development

Author:
Solomon Dersso
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), composed of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda with its secretariat headquartered in Djibouti, covers northeast Africa, a region continuing to experience major changes, arguably more than any other part of the continent. This is the only region of Africa where colonially drawn borders have been redrawn. In contrast to other regions of Africa, this is also where the prospect of further redrawing of borders—with Somaliland seeking international recognition as a separate state—remains a real possibility.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Development, Economics, Environment, Regional Cooperation, and Governance
Political Geography:
Uganda, Kenya, Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and South Sudan

23. Improving UN Capacity for Rapid Deployment

Author:
H. Peter Langille
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Rapid deployment of large peace operations into conflict zones worldwide is a demanding process. Within the United Nations system, the process is further complicated and frequently delayed by a long list of tasks, including the need to seek the support of member states for the deployment of their national personnel and resources. Yet, rapid deployment remains an important standard with specified response times and an objective that underpins many related reforms.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation, Peacekeeping, and Reform
Political Geography:
United Nations

24. The Union of South American Nations: Mapping Multilateralism in Transition

Author:
Sandra Borda
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Regional politics in Latin America today are defined by a variety of trends: Brazil continues to grow, but its leadership in the region has substantially decreased during the administration of Dilma Rousseff, which began in 2011; several countries-including Argentina, Bolivia, and Venezuela-have chosen to "Latin-Americanize" their foreign policy, discarding their former alignments with the United States; left-leaning governments, clearly critical of US power in the region, have tried to consolidate organizations such as the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) to increase their autonomy vis-à-vis the United States; right and right-center governments have responded by deepening their commercial links with the United States and the European Union (EU) and by organizing the Pacific Alliance, a traditional arrangement for free-trade and freedom-of-movement; and, finally, many countries in the region are adopting-independently of their ideological and political orientations-increasingly diversified foreign policies. At the same time, the presence of extra-regional actors has become increasingly visible.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Regional Cooperation, Sovereignty, Bilateral Relations, and Governance
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Brazil, South America, and Latin America

25. Responding to Insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea

Author:
Patrice Sartre
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The Gulf of Guinea has become notorious for its violent conflicts and political instability. This insecurity has its origins in bad governance, corruption, and failures of social and economic development. Violent power struggles and competition for the control of economic assets periodically cause crises to flare up, and these tend to be persistent and widespread. The international community has worked to move countries in the region onto a stable trajectory. West Africa has also made efforts to develop a coordinated approach to the region's challenges through a common security architecture. Such subregional initiatives may ultimately prove most conducive to long-term stability.
Topic:
Security, Corruption, and Governance
Political Geography:
Africa

26. Insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea: Assessing the Threat, Preparing the Response

Author:
Fiona Blyth and Mireille Affa'a Mindzie
Publication Date:
01-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The International Peace Institute convened a roundtable discussion on "Insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea: Assessing the Threats, Preparing the Response" on June 6, 2013, in New York. The meeting aimed to help develop a better understanding of the peace and security challenges facing the Gulf of Guinea by examining the multifaceted threats to the stability of the region; considering national, regional, and international responses to these threats; and providing practical policy recommendations with a view to strengthening regional and international responses.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Poverty, Fragile/Failed State, Governance, and Piracy
Political Geography:
Africa and United Nations

27. Cooperation from Crisis? Regional Responses to Humanitarian Emergencies

Author:
Walter Kemp, Jérémie Labbé, and Lilianne Fan
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
As the situation in Syria continues to deteriorate, could the humanitarian crisis afflicting the country and its neighbors provide an entryway for regional cooperation? This policy paper examines how regional responses to humanitarian crises have succeeded or failed to meet humanitarian objectives in order to inform approaches to contemporary crises. It also assesses whether such regional responses contributed to strengthening regional integration and cooperation, paving the way for increased regional stability and an improved capacity to respond to emergencies. The report explores two different humanitarian crises: the war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008. Examining the ways in which countries in each region and regional organizations addressed humanitarian needs, it draws a number of lessons that could be applied in contemporary crises: Regional ownership over the response is crucial, but not necessarily spontaneous. External actors can usefully contribute through a balanced mix of pressure and technical support. Preexisting regional organizations can provide a valuable institutional framework on which to build the response. An approach that focuses on the specific needs of the most vulnerable individuals can help to depoliticize discussions while strengthening trust among regional stakeholders. Complementary policy-level and expert-level processes can equip the response with both political commitment and regular working relationships for addressing tangible needs.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Civil War, Humanitarian Aid, Islam, Regional Cooperation, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arabia, Yugoslavia, Syria, and Myanmar

28. New Meeting Note: Security and Development in the Sahel-Sahara

Author:
Mireille Affa'a-Mindzie
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
After the severe twin crises that nearly brought Mali to its knees in January 2012, the country is gradually recovering from their debilitating consequences. In August 2013, Mali successfully elected its new president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, thus putting an end to an eighteen-month-long transitional government that was put in place following the March 2012 coup. Even though the violence has abated and renewed hope seems to be in the air, the structural causes of the Malian conflict are still stubbornly present and their consequences are still being felt by neighboring Sahel countries that suffer from similar underlying ills. The situation in Mali and other concerned states in the region generated a renewed interest in the Sahel-Sahara region and in efforts to stabilize this region. This prompted the International Peace Institute, the Executive Secretariat of the Strategy for Security and Development in the Sahel-Saharan Areas of Niger (SDS Sahel Niger), and the Centre for Strategies and Security for the Sahel Sahara (Centre 4S) to convene an international seminar on security and development in the Sahel-Sahara on February 15 and 16, 2013, in Niamey, Niger.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Development, Economics, Peace Studies, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

29. Conflict, Violence, and Instability in the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Author:
Suparva Narasimhaiah
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
On April 26, 2013, the UN Foundation (UNF), Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO), the International Peace Institute (IPI), and the Post-2015 Development Team at the Executive Office of the Secretary-General jointly convened a workshop to assess the impact of conflict, violence, and instability on development. The meeting brought together members from the UN Secretariat, agencies, funds, and programs as well as outside experts to consider strategies for addressing the post-2015 development agenda.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Arms Control and Proliferation, Development, Peace Studies, War, Insurgency, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Europe

30. Talking to Arab Youth: Revolution and Counterrevolution in Egypt and Tunisia

Author:
Nur Laiq
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The political landscape of the Arab world has undergone dramatic changes since 2011, the effects of which will continue to reverberate into the foreseeable future. The overthrow of authoritarian rule in Tunisia by popular protest was followed by the collapse of longstanding regimes in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, leading many to celebrate a new dynamic between citizen and state in the Arab world. In late 2013, the situation looks quite different. The first democratically elected president in Egypt has been deposed, hundreds of his supporters killed, and the Muslim Brotherhood banned. In Tunisia, parliament has been suspended; two politicians have been assassinated; and a campaign calling for the ouster of the Islamist-led government has gained momentum. In both countries, the population is divided and the anciens régimes fight to restore the old order. Will the ideals that sparked revolution be subsumed by counterrevolution? Or will the trajectories of revolution bend toward democratic consolidation?
Topic:
Democratization, Islam, Regime Change, Youth Culture, and Popular Revolt
Political Geography:
Middle East, Libya, Yemen, Arabia, and Egypt

31. New Report Examines How to Enhance Training for UN Peacekeepers

Author:
Alberto Cutillo
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Among the many elements that determine the success or failure of United Nations peacekeeping operations, the effectiveness of individual peacekeepers plays a prominent, though often underestimated, role. But “effectiveness” is an elusive concept. It is the product of a number of factors, ranging from the will of peacekeepers to the quality and suitability of their equipment; from timely deployment to strategic planning; from logistics to financial support. Ongoing efforts to improve the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping cover all these areas and more, including training, as a means to ensure that UN peacekeepers are adequately prepared to accomplish their tasks.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Arms Control and Proliferation, Development, Humanitarian Aid, Armed Struggle, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
United Nations

32. A Dangerous Nexus: Crime, Conflict, and Terrorism in Failing States

Author:
Walter Kemp, Mara Pfneisl, and Maximilian Meduna
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In his introductory remarks, IPI President Terje Rød-Larsen noted that when the United Nations was established after the Second World War, organized crime had almost nothing to do with international peace and security. It was a problem in a few big cities and isolated regions, but it was not a topic of international relations. In the 1980s, the situation began to change. The collapse of Communism opened new markets, and criminals began to take advantage of instability in conflict zones and fragile states. Globalization created new opportunities for illicit activities to flourish thanks to new technologies, new markets, and greater openness. Increases in trade, financial transactions, and communications made it easier for criminals to do business around the world and to launder money. Criminal groups also exploited unstable regions. As a result, by the beginning of the twenty-first century, organized crime had gone global, reaching macroeconomic proportions and posing a threat to international peace and security.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Arms Control and Proliferation, Crime, Globalization, Terrorism, Counterinsurgency, and Narcotics Trafficking
Political Geography:
United Nations

33. When Do Civil-War Parties Heed the UN? Findings from the IPI Security Council Compliance Database

Author:
Christoph Mikulaschek and Chris Perry
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The end of the Cold War brought an unprecedented surge in United Nations Security Council efforts to prevent, manage, and resolve internal armed conflict. But the sheer time and resources devoted to civil wars begs the question: to what extent and under which circumstances do civil-war parties actually implement the substance of Security Council resolutions? When and how often do civil-war parties comply with the Security Council's demands? To what extent do they respond to the council's offers of negative and positive incentives to cease hostilities and pursue a political settlement? Which factors most influence compliance with these demands? These are the questions that the International Peace Institute's Understanding Compliance with UN Security Council Resolutions in Civil Wars project aims to answer.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Peace Studies, Treaties and Agreements, War, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
United Nations

34. New Report Plans Ahead for a Postconflict Syria:Lessons from Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen

Author:
Christina Bennett
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Though the violent conflict in Syria shows few signs of abating and scenarios for any post conflict solution are numerous and vague, renewed interest in peace talks presents an important opportunity to discuss the parameters of peace and reconstruction in Syria.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, Yemen, Arabia, Lebanon, and Syria

35. A Good Office? Twenty Years of UN Mediation in Myanmar

Author:
Anna Magnusson and Morten B. Pedersen
Publication Date:
11-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The UN Secretary-General's good offices on Myanmar, now in their twentieth year, have been one of the longest such diplomatic efforts in the history of the world organization. The mandate derives from the General Assembly, which since 1993 has been requesting “the assistance of the Secretary-General” in implementing its annual resolutions on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. Since a special rapporteur was already in place at that time, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali defined his role as one of “good offices” rather than fact-finding, a decision that has remained unchallenged.1 An informal 1994 framework agreement with the Myanmar government listed three broad categories of subjects for dialogue: (1) return to democracy, including the 1990 election, the National Convention, and the situation of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders; (2) reintegration of the ethnic minorities into the political life of Myanmar; and (3) human rights and humanitarian issues.Yet, in practice, three successive secretaries-general and their special envoys have focused on the first of these, a return to democracy—and in particular, on mediating between the military government and Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the democratic opposition.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Human Rights, International Trade and Finance, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Israel, Southeast Asia, and Myanmar

36. Rethinking Humanitarianism: Adapting to 21st Century Challenges

Author:
Jérémie Labbé
Publication Date:
11-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The modern international humanitarian system, defined as much by similarities and shared values as by differences and competition among its members, is being tested like never before. The cumulative effects of population growth, climate change, increased resource scarcity, rising inequalities, economic and geopolitical shifts, the changing nature of violence, and rapid technological developments are presenting the humanitarian system with four broad challenges: an increasing humanitarian caseload; the changing nature of crises; a renewed assertiveness of host states; and finite financial resources.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Economics, Human Rights, Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, and Foreign Aid

37. Aid Effectiveness in Fragile States: Lessons from the First Generation of Transition Compacts

Author:
Christina Bennett
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Amid growing recognition that international efforts to support fragile and conflict-affected states are falling short of expectations, donors and partner governments continue to seek new approaches. Attention has recently focused on the notion of “compacts”—instruments that allow national and international partners to agree on the most urgent priorities requiring a collective effort in support of postconflict peacebuilding in a particular country, and identify how, and from which sources and instruments, implementation will be financed.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Humanitarian Aid, Peace Studies, United Nations, and Foreign Aid

38. Organized Crime, Conflict, and Fragility: A New Approach

Author:
Rachel Locke
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Transnational organized crime (TOC) is a global challenge posing serious threats to our collective peace and security. But in conflict-affected and fragile states the threats of transnational organized crime present particular and insidious challenges requiring new and innovative responses. Not only does TOC undermine the strength of the state, it further affects the critical and often contested relationship between the state and society. In fragile and conflict-affected states it is precisely the degraded nature of this relationship that often prevents progress toward greater peace and prosperity. While there is now an established correlation between conflict and state fragility, much less is understood about the relationship between transnational organized crime, conflict, and fragility. This report examines the dynamics between conflict, state fragility, and TOC, demonstrating how the three fit together in an uneasy triumvirate, and it presents ideas for a more effective response.
Topic:
Security, Corruption, Crime, Development, Poverty, and Fragile/Failed State

39. Preventing Conflicts in Africa: Early Warning and Response

Author:
Mireille Affa'a-Mindzie
Publication Date:
08-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The popular uprisings in North Africa in 2011 and more recent crises in Mali and Guinea-Bissau have raised questions about the capacity of the African Union (AU) and the international community to successfully prevent violent conflicts in Africa. In Mali, the military coup in March 2012, which ousted President Amadou Toumani Touré, occurred only two days after a ministerial meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council was held in the capital Bamako to consider the situation in the Sahel region and the Tuareg rebellion in the northern part of the country. Less than a month later, the equally unforeseen crisis in Guinea-Bissau erupted while an ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council ministerial meeting was taking place in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, in April 2012. Against this backdrop, the International Peace Institute (IPI) hosted a roundtable discussion on early warning in partnership with the Permanent Missions of South Africa and Azerbaijan to the United Nations, both members of the United Nations Security Council at the time. The seminar, “Preventing Conflicts in Africa: The Role of Early Warning and Response,” was held on April 27, 2012, at IPI's Trygve Lie Center for Peace, Security, and Development in New York.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Political Violence, Civil Society, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Africa

40. Broadening the Base of United Nations Troop-and Police-Contributing Countries

Author:
Paul D. Williams and Alex J. Bellamy
Publication Date:
08-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Today, United Nations (UN) peacekeeping stands at another crossroads. With consistently high demands for peacekeepers and an expanding range of mandated tasks, the UN faces the challenge of finding more, and better, peacekeepers. This comes at a time when financial austerity measures are being imposed across much of the world and in a political context where the UN must compete with other international organizations to recruit peacekeepers from what is a relatively limited global pool of relevant capabilities. To meet the challenge, the UN's New Horizon initiative and the General Assembly's Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) have called for an “expanding of the pool of available capabilities.” The Providing for Peacekeeping Project was established by the International Peace Institute to inform and assist this endeavor.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, United Nations, Law Enforcement, and Peacekeeping

41. Making UN Peacekeeping More Robust: Protecting the Mission, Persuading the Actors

Author:
Patrice Sartre
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The debate about robust peacekeeping pits the enthusiasm of "diplomats," who believe in peacekeeping but worry that it might not succeed in violent situations, against the scepticism of the "military," who see its failures as proof that the proper role of military forces is war fighting.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Peace Studies, War, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Europe

42. Maintaining International Peace and Security: A Summit Meeting of the UN Security Council

Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
On September 23, 2010, the United Nations Security Council held a summit meeting on the maintenance of international peace and security, which is the primary responsibility of the Council. The summit was initiated by Turkey, a nonpermanent member of the Council in 2009-2010 and holder of the rotating presidency for September 2010. It was attended by nine heads of state and government and six ministers, and chaired by Abdullah Gul, President of the Republic of Turkey. The resulting presidential statement (S/PRST/2010/18, reproduced in the Annex to this report) reaffirmed that international peace and security require a more comprehensive and coherent approach. The Council also pledged to continue to strengthen the crisis-management toolbox at its disposal, including preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding, and to adapt it to changing circumstances. In addition, the statement reiterated the Council's support for the protection of civilians and its commitment to strengthening strategic partnerships with regional and subregional organizations and other relevant players. Further, it reaffirmed the importance of women in all aspects of prevention and resolution of conflicts and underlined the importance of addressing the root causes of conflict.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, International Relations, Security, Diplomacy, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Turkey and United Nations

43. The Security Sector in Côte d'Ivoire: A Source of Conflict and a Key to Peace

Author:
Arthur Boutellis
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The security sector in Côte d'Ivoire is both at the root of the recent crisis and the key to finding a way forward. While successive attempts to resolve divisions have recognized some of the larger challenges of security-sector reform (SSR), the failure to reunify the Ivoirian security forces prior to holding the presidential elections in 2010 was a key factor behind the recent crisis and contributed to its escalation into a military confrontation-a confrontation that included violence against civilians committed by both sides. The decade-long crisis and its latest episode have made the politicians in Côte d'Ivoire increasingly dependent on uniformed men. This will have to be addressed through comprehensive security-sector reform to prevent a return to armed conflict.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Demographics, and Armed Struggle
Political Geography:
Africa

44. Preventive Diplomacy: Regions in Focus

Author:
Francesco Mancini
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Preventive diplomacy—conceived by Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold in the mid-1950s and revitalized in the early 1990s by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali—is a vital instrument in the United Nations' conflict-prevention toolkit. While the responsibility for preventing conflict and its escalation ultimately lies with countries themselves, the UN has played an indispensable supporting role since its establishment and will continue to do so.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Political Violence, Diplomacy, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
America, Israel, Latin America, and Southeast Asia

45. Transforming Terrorists: Examining International Efforts to Address Violent Extremism

Author:
Naureen Chowdhury Fink and Hamed El-Said
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Efforts to promote “deradicalization,” or to rehabilitate detainees charged with terrorism-related offenses, have taken multiple forms in a wide range of countries, often as part of broader counterradicalization strategies that seek to prevent the adoption of violent extremist ideologies or behaviors in the first place. Some are more formal rehabilitation programs, with well-defined agendas, institutional structures, and a dedicated full-time staff, while others are a looser combination of social and political initiatives. Programs vary in their objectives, their criteria for participation, and the kinds of benefits and incentives they might offer. The cumulative lessons learned from several states' experiences in dealing with violent extremist groups are of growing interest to countries now facing similar challenges.

46. The UN Security Council and the Responsibility to Protect: Policy, Process, and Practice

Author:
Susan E. Rice, Gareth Evans, Alan Doss, Adonia Ayebare, Edward C. Luck, Patrick Cammaert, Thomas Mayr-Harting, Christoph Mikulasche, Mona Rishmawi, Rima Salah, and Michael Spindelegger
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
We are proud to host the International Peace Institute Vienna Seminar on Peacemaking and Peacekeeping for many y ears now, organized by the International Peace Institute together with the National Defence Academy and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, in cooperation with the Austrian Ministry for European and International Affairs and the Austrian Ministry for Denfence.
Topic:
Genocide, Human Rights, Human Welfare, United Nations, War, and Peacekeeping

47. A New Approach? Deradicalization Programs and Counterterrorism

Author:
Ellie B. Hearne and Nur Laiq
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Counterterrorism has, in the last ten years, come to the fore of international relations, and remains in the news almost daily. This is due in large part to the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, which in turn have also prompted something of a backlash against such military or “hard” approaches to countering terrorism. Partly in response, states and civil society have sought out softer, often preventive, measures to deal with violent extremism, many of which have been deemed more successful than military approaches and less likely to foment a new generation of violent extremists. However, problems remain.
Topic:
Civil Society, Terrorism, and Counterinsurgency
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq

48. Election-Related Disputes and Political Violence: Strengthening the Role of the African Union in Preventing, Managing, and Resolving Conflict

Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Elections are the hallmark of representative democracy, allowing the people's regular input in choices about leaders and policy. Yet they are also competitive processes, unleashing conflict and tensions that, if not constructively managed, could potentially destabilize the fabric of states and societies. Since the new wave of democratization in Africa in the early 1990s, elections have become a core ingredient of popular participation in the governance process. At the same time, elections have spawned conflicts and violence and scrambled ethnic and regional alliances that sometimes threaten the social order, economic development, and efforts to strengthen regional integration. With the steady decline of some of the historic causes of African conflicts, elections have emerged as one of the major recent sources of conflict across Africa. The challenges occasioned by election-related conflicts and political violence underscore the importance of building institutions that balance competition with order, participation with stability, and contestation with consensus.
Topic:
Political Violence, Democratization, Peace Studies, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Africa

49. The United Nations Security Council and Civil War: First Insights from a New Dataset

Author:
James Cockayne, Christoph Mikulaschek, and Chris Perry
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
This report is the first publication produced by IPI's research project on Understanding Compliance with UN Security Council Resolutions. It provides fresh insights from the new IPI Security Council Compliance Database. The report examines trends in how the Security Council has engaged with civil wars since 1989, variations in where and when it chose to engage, and the gradual evolution of the Council's civil-war response strategies. Future analysis by this project will seek to provide answers to two questions: To what extent do civil-war parties comply with demands issued by the Security Council? And what factor or combination of factors best explains the variance in the level of compliance—e.g., conflict settings, conflict management strategies, or political dynamics within the Security Council?
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Civil War, United Nations, and Peacekeeping

50. Power, Politics, and Change: How International Actors Assess Local Context

Author:
Paul Romita and Vanessa Wyeth
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In recent years, donor governments and international organizations such as the UN and the World Bank have developed a number of frameworks and tools to assess governance, conflict, and fragility. This report argues that there are multiple, and often contradictory, objectives underlying the development and use of such assessment tools. Underpinning this multiplicity of objectives are deep assumptions, many of which remain unstated. Different agencies tend to define the problem through their own institutional lens, and the assessment tools they create reflect these biases. As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development—Development Assistant Committee's (OECD-DAC's) work on governance assessments has pointed out, assumptions underlying governance assessment methodologies are usually not explicit, but tend to measure governance against existing norms in OECD countries. Similarly, the different approaches to conflict assessment adopted by major bilateral and multilateral actors demonstrate conceptual and intellectual differences in their understanding of the nature of conflict; the same may be said for various donors' approaches to assessing state fragility.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, International Relations, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
United Nations

51. Transnational Organized Crime and the Palermo Convention: A Reality Check

Author:
André Standing
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Ten years have passed since the adoption of the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (the Palermo Convention) by the UN General Assembly on November 15, 2000. At the signing of the convention in Palermo, Sicily, in December 2000, many government delegations welcomed the Palermo Convention as an important step in the fight against organized crime. Some warned against viewing it as a final measure and stressed that the convention and its protocols should be considered as a starting point rather than an end in itself.
Topic:
Crime, Globalization, International Cooperation, Terrorism, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States

52. Biosecurity: Task Forces on Strengthening Multilateral Security Capacity

Author:
Pim Valdre
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Unprecedented progress in biotechnology holds the prospect of historic improvements in the welfare of humankind. Used responsibly, biotechnology can help address food insecurity, improve human health, provide solutions for environmental degradation, and help countries leapfrog in technological development. Used carelessly, or misused deliberately, biotechnology could inflict considerable human suffering—from the disastrous effects of bioweapons, to the accidental and deliberate spread of disease by state and nonstate actors.
Topic:
Agriculture, Demographics, Third World, and Food

53. The Invisible Tide: Towards an International Strategy to Deal with Drug Trafficking Through West Africa

Author:
Phil Williams and James Cockayne
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
An invisible tide is rising on the shores of West Africa, creeping into its slums, its banks, its courts, its barracks, and its government ministries. It is a tide of money, influence, and power, born from the drug trafficking that is sweeping the region. Cocaine produced in Latin America is transported to West Africa, and then on to Europe. From there, the proceeds find their way back to North and South America, fueling further investment and further narco-trafficking. Some of the profits from the trade stay in West Africa, laundered through construction projects and other avenues, and increasingly corrupting politics, society, and security institutions. As the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, recently put it: “Drug money is not only buying real estate and flashy cars: it is buying power.”
Topic:
Crime and Narcotics Trafficking
Political Geography:
Africa and West Africa

54. A Workshop with the UN Working Group on Mercenaries

Author:
James Cockayne
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
On July 29, 2009, the International Peace Institute convened a meeting of civil society, academic, and industry representatives to meet with the United Nations Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the rights of peoples to selfdetermination (the “Working Group”). The United Nations Human Rights Council has requested that the Working Group consult with a wide range of actors on the content and scope of possible legal instruments for regulation of private military and security companies.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Human Rights, and United Nations

55. A Choice for Peace? The Story of Forty-One Days of Mediation in Kenya

Author:
Elisabeth Lindenmayer and Josie Lianna Kaye
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The postelection violence that erupted in Kenya in December 2007 resulted in the deaths of over one thousand people and left three hundred thousand people displaced. While catastrophic, the scale of the social and economic destruction, not to mention the loss of life, could have been much greater were it not for the peace mediation mandated by the African Union in January 2008. The Panel of Eminent African Personalities, chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, led the forty-one-day peace process, culminating in the Agreement on the Principles of Partnership of the Coalition Government, which was signed by President Mwai Kibaki and the Honorable Raila Odinga on February 28th, putting an end to the crisis which engulfed the nation and took the world by surprise.
Topic:
Political Violence and Democratization
Political Geography:
Kenya and Africa

56. Global Terrorism: Task Forces on Strengthening Multilateral Security Capacity

Author:
Naureen Chowdhury Fink
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The increasingly transnational and multifaceted nature of terrorism calls for a strong multilateral response. States have the primary responsibility for protecting their populations from the threats posed by terrorism. At the same time, given the often cross-regional nature of the terrorist threat, mechanisms for effective cooperation are needed at the global and regional levels. To this end, the United Nations (UN), by virtue of its universality and legitimacy, has an important role to play.
Topic:
Security, International Cooperation, Terrorism, and United Nations

57. Beyond Market Forces: Regulating the Global Security Industry

Author:
James Cockayne, Emily Speers Mears, Alison Gurin, Iveta Cherneva, Sheila Oviedo, and Dylan Yaeger
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In late 2008, seventeen states, including the US, UK, China, Iraq, Afghanistan, and others, endorsed the Montreux Document on Pertinent International Legal Obligations and Good Practices for States related to Operations of Private Military and Security Companies during Armed Conflict (2008). This provides important guidance to states in regulating private military and security companies (PMSCs). However, there is a need to do more, to provide increased guidance to the industry and ensure standards are enforced.
Topic:
Security, Globalization, Markets, International Security, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, China, Iraq, and United Kingdom

58. Peacebuilding: Task Forces on Strengthening Multilateral Security Capacity IPI Blue Paper no. 10

Author:
Lead Rapportuer and Jenna Slotin
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Peacebuilding involves implementing a range of reconstruction and reform efforts in countries with some of the most fragile, fluid, and unpredictable political environments. These situations present tensions and contradictions that often cannot be fully reconciled and require trade-offs between competing needs and goals. Moreover, each postconflict situation is unique, defying general theories and blueprints for action.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, and War
Political Geography:
United Nations

59. Understanding Local Context: The Use of Assessment Tools for Conflict-Affected and Fragile States

Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
On June 11 and 12, 2009, the International Peace Institute (IPI) convened an experts' workshop as part of an ongoing project called Understanding Local Context. The project aims to improve understanding of how international actors grapple with local context and dynamics in the countries where they work.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, International Cooperation, and Fragile/Failed State
Political Geography:
United Nations

60. Managing Complexity: Political and Managerial Challenges in UN Peace Operations

Author:
Adam Smith, editor and Caty Clement, editor
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
“Overstretched,” “underresourced,” and “overmatched” are terms commonly used to describe UN peacekeeping. The first is a result of the vast number of conflicts the Security Council has chosen to address with peace operations. The second is due to a lack of available specialized equipment, highly trained personnel, and funds—a constraint compounded by global recession. The final descriptor, “overmatched,” is, at least partly, a consequence of the challenging, complex environment in which the UN operates. The multiplicity of actors involved, the unpredictability of the environment, and the enormous obstacles to sustainable peace all suggest a complexity through which the UN—a large bureaucracy dependent on the will and capacity of its member states—is often unprepared to navigate.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Peace Studies, and United Nations

61. The Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) and Genocide Prevention in Africa

Author:
Jenna Slotin, Castro Wesamba, and Teemt Bekele
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Within the United Nations, the concept of the responsibility to protect (RtoP) has regained considerable momentum after nearly two years of stasis following the 2005 World Summit. Outside the corridors of the world body, discussions about RtoP and its application to specific regional situations, as well as the mandate of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, one of the crimes specified in the Summit's Outcome Document, are still at a nascent stage. In order to contribute to rectifying this imbalance, the International Peace Institute, the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, and the InterAfrica Group convened an expert roundtable on “The Responsibility to Protect and Genocide Prevention in Africa” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on October 23 and 24, 2008.
Topic:
Genocide, Human Rights, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Africa, United Nations, and Ethiopia

62. Underdevelopment, Resource Scarcity, and Environmental Degradation

Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Underdevelopment, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation are cardinal, even existential, threats to human security. These challenges not only threaten human life and well-being, but also impact the global geopolitical and economic landscape. Chronic underdevelopment condemns more than 1 billion people to lives of poverty, illness, and poor political and economic prospects. Long-term goals of economic and human development are undermined by scarce, unreliable, or unaffordable supplies of vital resources such as food, water, and energy. Climate change threatens to exacerbate the effects of environmental degradation, putting land and livelihoods at grave risk.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, Poverty, and Natural Resources

63. From Uganda to the Congo and Beyond: Pursuing the Lord's Resistance Army

Author:
Ronald R. Atkinson
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
This paper begins by providing the historical context for “Operation Lightning Thunder,” the Ugandan military's December 2008 incursion into neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo in pursuit of the northern Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The paper first presents (1) a historical background to the northern Uganda war that produced the LRA; (2) an overview of that war, which began in 1986; and (3) an analysis of the Juba peace process initiated in 2005 and its unraveling over the course of 2008.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Arms Control and Proliferation, War, and Armed Struggle
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, and Democratic Republic of the Congo

64. Mediation and Peace Processes: IPI Blue Paper no. 8

Author:
Christoph Mikulaschek
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Today more than ever before, armed conflicts are likely to end in mediated settlements. As mediation activity has surged since the end of the Cold War, its dynamics have undergone significant change as well.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Cold War, Diplomacy, Peace Studies, and War

65. West Africa: Governance and Security in a Changing Region

Author:
Abdel-Fatau Musah
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
This paper addresses the challenges to human and regional security in the territory covered by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It examines causal factors and their effects, profiles the actors shaping the security environment, and describes the nature and impacts of their interventions. Finally, it projects possible future scenarios based on the current security dynamics. The paper examines the geopolitical environment of West Africa, with emphasis on the strategic importance of the region and the vulnerabilities emanating from its location. Within this context, it discusses the roles of local, regional, and international actors in the evolving regional security architecture, sifting through their actions, motivations, and interventions. It analyzes the attempts by national, regional, and international institutions to transform the security environment, highlighting their roles, strengths, and weaknesses; and it projects various security scenarios, proposing policy options to meet the challenges that these scenarios present.
Topic:
Security, Development, Government, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Africa

66. Transnational Organized Crime

Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Transnational organized crime (TOC) is no longer the sole preserve of specialist criminal organizations. It is now an essential strategy for armed groups around the world, and a source of funding for terrorists, corrupt politicians, warlords, and rogue governments. But states and international organizations have largely failed to anticipate the evolution of TOC into a strategic threat to governments, societies, and economies. At the international level, an outdated understanding of TOC does not adequately contemplate the strategic impact of TOC and fails to ensure that peace efforts and crime fighting are not working at cross-purposes.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Crime, International Law, Peace Studies, War on Drugs, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

67. Private Military and Security Companies: A Framework for Regulation

Author:
James Cockayne and Emily Speers Mears
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In late 2008, seventeen states, including the US, UK, China, Iraq, and Afghanistan, endorsed the Montreux Document on Pertinent International Legal Obligations and Good Practices for States Related to Operations of Private Military and Security Companies During Armed Conflict. This provides important guidance to states in regulating Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs). But there is a need to do more, to provide increased guidance to industry and ensure standards are enforced.
Topic:
Security, International Law, Privatization, Treaties and Agreements, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, China, Iraq, and United Kingdom

68. Conflict Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect

Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The multilateral system has struggled to respond to the changing nature of conflict and its increasingly brutal effects on civilians. Countless eloquent speeches have been made and ink spilled on the urgent need to prevent conflict and protect civilians. Yet the gulf between rhetoric and reality is still unacceptably wide.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Security, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and War

69. Weapons of Mass Destruction

Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) remains a key challenge to international peace and security. Yet the member states of the United Nations are still deeply divided on how to meet this challenge.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Defense Policy, Nuclear Weapons, War, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United Nations

70. Peace Operations

Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Major reassessments of UN peacekeeping have tended to follow in the wake of large-scale failures of peacekeeping operations. Continued violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the inability to mount a UN operation in Somalia, and the lack of progress in Darfur may or may not count as major failures. However, it is clear that some kind of reassessment is required.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Peace Studies, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Somalia

71. Countering Terrorism in South Asia: Strengthening Multilateral Engagement

Author:
Eric Rosand, Jason Ipe, and Naureen Chowdhury Fink
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Horrific acts of terrorism, such as the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, underscore the regional nature of the terrorist threat in South Asia, and they highlight the need for greater cooperation within the region to address it. This report explores ways to strengthen such cooperation, with a particular focus on the role that the United Nations can play in this regard. It urges the United Nations to build on the international community's solidarity in the wake of terrorist attacks—such as those recently in Islamabad, Lahore, and Mumbai—to forge stronger engagement between the United Nations and South Asia on counterterrorism and within the region itself.
Topic:
Political Violence, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
South Asia, Asia, United Nations, Mumbai, Alabama, and Lahore

72. Small Arms and Light Weapons

Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Small arms and light weapons (SALW) enable and facilitate armed conflict, terrorism, and crime. Today, they remain among the cheapest and most easily accessible instruments for participating in violence. Despite our understanding of the threat posed by SALW to peace and security, development and human rights, deep-rooted differences remain on how to stem their ill effects, in particular the passage of weapons from the licit realm to the illicit. Even the domestic passage of SALW to the illicit realm can, ultimately, have transnational effects, fueling conflict, crime, and terrorism.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, War, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

73. Resource Scarcity: Responding to the Security Challenge

Author:
Richard A. Matthew
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
For over two centuries, the social effects of natural resource scarcity have been the subject of lively debate. On one side are those who contend that the planet's resource endowment cannot support increased consumption indefinitely. In 1798, for example, Thomas Malthus wrote An Essay on the Principle of Population, in which he argued “that the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man.” The imbalance between human needs and food availability, Malthus predicted, would lead to famine, disease, and war. Writing 150 years later, Fairfield Osborn (1948: 200-201) reiterated this concern: “When will it be openly recognized that one of the principal causes of the aggressive attitudes of individual nations and of much of the present discord among groups of nations is traceable to diminishing productive lands and to increasing population pressures?” More recently, updated versions of the “scarcity conflict thesis,” developed by scholars such as Paul Ehrlich (1968), Donella Meadows (1972) and Thomas Homer-Dixon (1999), have been influential in both academic and policy circles around the world.
Topic:
Security, Agriculture, Demographics, Globalization, and Peace Studies

74. Governing the Global Economy: Strengthening Multilateral Institutions

Author:
Ngaire Woods
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The good news in the global economy is that the past two decades have seen globalization proceed apace with unprecedented economic growth in several parts of the world. To date, sound economic policy has made hyperinflation a rarity. Rising commodity prices are fueling growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Formerly poor countries are emerging as major players in the world economy.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Organization, International Political Economy, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Africa and Bangkok

75. Eastern Africa: Security and the Legacy of Fragility

Author:
Gilbert M. Khadiagala
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
“Eastern Africa” denotes the geographical area comprising the seven member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD): Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda. Tanzania is also included because it has had long historical and political interactions with Kenya and Uganda within the rubric of the East African Cooperation (EAC). The main challenges to human security in this region have originated from political and state fragility, resource scarcities, and environmental degradation. All these factors have contributed to a regional context that is characterized by intrastate conflicts, interstate wars, and political extremism. Raging civil wars and interstate conflicts have, in turn, produced forms of statelessness and marginality that have deepened societal insecurities and strained human livelihoods. Consequently, in addition to profound political instability and economic destitution, human security is arrayed against escalating communal violence, small arms proliferation, and massive movements of people within and beyond the region.
Topic:
Development, Environment, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Uganda, Kenya, Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia, and East Africa

76. Southern Africa: Threats and Capabilities

Author:
Gavin Cawthra
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The southern African region is now generally defined in political terms as those countries that are members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) (the geographic definition is usually somewhat more limited). Currently there are fifteen member states of the SADC: Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Topic:
Development, Peace Studies, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa, South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Swaziland

77. North Africa: New Challenges, Old Regimes, and Regional Security

Author:
Claire Spencer
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
North Africa is often loosely defined, but for the purposes of this paper, it encompasses the states of the Arab Maghreb Union (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia) together with Egypt.1 With the exception of Mauritania, this group of states lies on the northern littoral of the African continent, between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Sahara to the south. This contiguity, however, has not automatically made for a cohesive region; differences between political and economic trajectories have overridden the social solidarities that still unite the peoples of North Africa.
Topic:
Security, Islam, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Africa, Libya, Algeria, North Africa, and Egypt

78. Global Political Violence: Explaining the Post-Cold War Decline

Author:
Andrew Mack
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
This paper reviews global trends in political violence since the end of World War II, focusing in particular on the decline in conflict numbers that followed the end of the Cold War. It argues that the single most compelling explanation for this decline is found in the upsurge of peacemaking and peacebuilding activities that started in the early 1990s,was spearheaded by the UN, but also involved many other international agencies, donor governments, and NGOs. The paper also examines trends in war fatalities, which have been declining unevenly since the early 1950s and reviews possible explanations for the change.Trends in civilian deaths from organized political violence—including genocides and terrorism—are also reviewed.
Topic:
International Relations, Cold War, Development, and Politics

79. Peacemaking and Mediation: Dynamics of a Changing Field

Author:
Chester Crocker
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The study of peacemaking and mediation blossomed in the immediate post-Cold War years and into the new millennium.The 2001 terrorist attacks on the US and subsequent attacks in Indonesia, Spain, and the UK, marked a significant watershed in world politics, raising the question of whether war-fighting against this new adversary would eclipse peacemaking and conflict prevention.While the jury remains out on the extent of the paradigm shift signaled by September 11, 2001, there is no question that today's environment features elements of both continuity and change for peacemakers. The threat to international security posed by certain forms of terrorism cannot be ignored. But the totality of challenges facing the international system today cannot be reduced to the terrorist threat, nor can the international community's response be reduced to a “war on terrorism.”1 In this section of the paper, we will identify important areas of consensus about peacemaking that have carried over from the late 1980s and early 1990s to the present, take note of continuing debates in the broader field of conflict management and resolution that affect the way practitioners and scholars think about their activities, and discuss certain “new emphases” in this field that can affect the way peacemakers operate, whether as state-based or unofficial actors.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Development, International Cooperation, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
United States and Spain

80. New Challenges for Peacekeeping: the “War on Terror”

Author:
Richard Gowan and Ian Johnstone
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Efforts to predict the future of peacekeeping almost always prove to be unsuccessful. In 1958, United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld reported to the General Assembly on the lessons of the UN Emergency Force deployed to Egypt during the Suez crisis two years before. He surrounded his observations with qualifications, as some “circumstances are of such a nature that it could not reasonably be expected that they would often be duplicated elsewhere. Nor can it be assumed that they provide a sufficient basis to warrant indiscriminate projection of the UNEF experience in planning for future United Nations operations of this kind.” Sure enough, when the UN began to deploy to the Congo two years later, the 1958 report was to prove “not especially pertinent” to the task at hand.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Peace Studies, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
Egypt

81. Ending Wars and Building Peace

Author:
Charles Call and Elizabeth Cousens
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Ending armed conflict has long been a concern of practitioners and scholars of international relations. Recent years have seen new attention to questions of “building peace” beyond the immediate termination of war, primarily driven by the experience of civil wars in the 1990s and the very mixed record of international involvement—from relative successes like Namibia, Mozambique, and El Salvador through partial successes like Cambodia, Bosnia, and East Timor to abysmal failures like Angola and Rwanda.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Peace Studies, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Cambodia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Angola, and Namibia

82. Small Arms and Light Weapons: Towards Global Public Policy

Author:
Keith Krause
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Small arms and light weapons kill at least 300,000 people a year, in both conflict and non-conflict situations, and injure or disable thousands more. Small arms are the weapons of choice of warring parties— government armies, paramilitaries, rebel forces, or even terrorists—and in recent wars they account for between 60 and 90 percent of direct conflict deaths, depending on the nature and intensity of the fighting. In non-war settings small arms represent one of the leading causes of preventable death, and a major cause of mortality for young men—through, for example, armed violence, suicides, murders, and accidents. 1 In Rio de Janeiro the gun violence death rate is comparable to that of some war zones. El Salvador has a firearm death rate of thirty per 100,000, and Colombia suffers a rate of fifty-five per 100,000 people killed by gun violence. 2 The life expectancy of males born in Colombia in 2002 is reduced by more than three years as a result of the risk of armed violence. And in South Africa, homicides are the leading cause of death for males between fifteen and twenty-one years of age. Overall, the global burden of violence and violent conflict is one of the most important external causes of death and injury.
Topic:
International Relations, Arms Control and Proliferation, Development, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
South Africa and Colombia

83. The Middle East: Fragility and Crisis

Author:
Markus E. Bouillon
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The Middle East is perhaps the world's most crucial region: economically and strategically, the Middle East occupies a top rank on the international agenda, with significance far beyond its geographical bounds.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Development, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Middle East

84. Africa: Confronting Complex Threats

Author:
Kwesi Aning
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Africa is grappling with several difficult security challenges. These difficulties result not only from the magnitude of these challenges, but also from the lack of capacity of African states and organizations to respond quickly and effectively to them. While wide swathes of Africa are compelled to deal with problems in an ad hoc manner, there are indications that some states, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the African Union (AU) are undertaking promising steps to respond. Some of Africa's core security challenges are (a) the legacy of historic notions of state sovereignty; (b) the rise of regionalism in the absence of common regional values; (c) the difficulty of managing hegemonic regionalism; (d) elitism in the form of regional integration occurring only at the level of leaders without permeating the consciousness of the people; (e) the creation of institutions with little or no capacity to manage them, resulting in a merely formal regionalism; and finally (f) the perception of regionalism as an externally driven project.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Africa

85. Asia: Towards Security Cooperation

Author:
Michael Vatikiotis
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Asia has enjoyed a remarkable climate of peace and security in the post-Cold War era. However, there is much that could have gone wrong. Tensions on the Korean peninsula, in the Taiwan Straits, between China and India, India and Pakistan – the hot spots and fault lines of tension are well known and warily watched. Rarely has serious conflict erupted, though. The last major 'conventional' conflict in Asia was the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, though smaller wars have been fought between states in Kashmir and along the Chinese border with Vietnam. The region is also wracked by protracted internal disputes that generate sustained fears for internal security and destabilized inter-state relations. All the same, for a region that lacks the kind of sophisticated collective security arrangements that have kept the northern hemisphere at peace for the past sixty years, Asia's security environment is remarkably benign.
Topic:
Security, Development, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, India, Taiwan, Asia, Soviet Union, Vietnam, Kashmir, Korea, and Korean Peninsula

86. Central Asia and the Caucasus: A Vulnerable Crescent

Author:
Anna Matveeva and Thomas de Waal
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The Caucasus and Central Asia – eight countries of the former Soviet Union stretching to the south of Russia and to the west of China – form a chain of weak states, vulnerable to conflict, extremism, and spillover from potential instability in the Middle East, Iran and Afghanistan. Once on the path of the Silk Road, these countries are still transit routes in the world economy rather than major economic players. The overarching problem for the Caucasus countries situated on the eastern fringe of Europe – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, as well as the Russian North Caucasus – is unresolved conflicts that hamper development and poison politics. The Caucasus has become a field for latter-day Great Power battles of influence, in which competing policy agendas, sometimes even from within the same state, make for a fragmented international response that hampers regional integration and development. The autocratic states of Central Asia by contrast risk isolating themselves from the wider world, becoming a source of danger because of their deliberate remoteness. Here the globalized threats of drug trafficking and militant Islam are the biggest potential source of instability. Multilateral organizations such as the UN are still struggling to articulate a coherent response to the two regions as a whole, tending to make more narrow interventions that have limited impact.
Topic:
Security and Development
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Russia, China, Europe, Iran, Central Asia, Asia, Soviet Union, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia

87. Europe: Crises of Identity

Author:
Shada Islam
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The European Union's emergence as a leading global political and economic actor is an important, exciting and inspiring development in modern history. The signature in 1957 of the EU's founding Treaty of Rome, creating the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) and the European Economic Community (EEC) has been followed rapidly by a spate of initiatives designed to draw EU members into an ever closer economic and political union.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Europe and Rome

88. Latin America and the Caribbean: Domestic and Transnational Insecurity

Author:
Arlene B. Tickner
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the end of the Cold War coincided with transitions to democracy in Brazil and the Southern Cone, and the peaceful resolution of armed conflict in Central America. These developments, along with the intensification of globalization processes worldwide, inaugurated a hopeful era of “democratic peace” or “no war” suggesting a decreasing importance for traditional security matters. Although a series of bilateral border disputes continue to simmer in the region, the most intransient ones have been resolved. Indeed, since the 1995 war between Peru and Ecuador, interstate conflict has been all but erased, and military competition has been reduced dramatically. With the exception of Colombia's entrenched civil war and Haiti's faltering state, internal conflicts characterized by significant episodes of political violence have also become a distant memory.
Topic:
Security and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Brazil, Colombia, South America, Latin America, Central America, Caribbean, Haiti, Peru, and Ecuador

89. Nuclear Weapons: The Politics of Non-Proliferation

Author:
Christine Wing
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Questions related to nuclear weapons are highly contested in the international arena—including the question of how these weapons constitute a challenge to human and international security. Does the challenge exist mainly in the incorporation of these weapons into military doctrines, or in the possibility that more states and/or terrorists will acquire nuclear capabilities? Have nuclear weapons and nuclear deterrence prevented major wars, or are they ultimately destabilizing—or could both be true?
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons, Peace Studies, Weapons of Mass Destruction, International Security, and International Affairs

90. Transnational Organized Crime: Multilateral Responses to a Rising Threat

Author:
James Cockayne
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In most people's view, it is violent crime—not terror, war, disease or famine—that represents the single greatest threat to their personal security. That threat is increasingly global: the globalization of transportation, communications and finance has benefited not only licit business, but also professional criminals, allowing them to organize transnationally. As a result, crime is transforming from a threat to personal security into a strategic threat to national and international security. But even as crime is transnationalized, crime control remains largely corralled behind national borders.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Crime, Globalization, War on Drugs, and International Security

91. Global Terrorism: Multilateral Institutional Responses to an Extraordinary Threat

Author:
Eric Rosand
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In recent years, the traditional tendency to treat non state actors that resort to terrorist violence as a domestic issue has given way to an increasing focus on international—and multilateral—responses Nationalist/ separatist terrorist groups such as the Kurdistan Peoples Party (PKK) in Turkey, the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) generated only limited responses at the multilateral level. The emergence of transnational terrorism in the 1970s led to a spate of international law-making to facilitate inter-state cooperation in response to hijacking, hostage-taking and other forms of terrorism. But only with the emergence of Al Qaeda, with its extraordinary global reach, has the transnational threat moved to the top of the agenda of international for a such as the United Nations and G8.
Topic:
International Relations, Globalization, International Law, Terrorism, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Turkey, Sri Lanka, Colombia, and Kurdistan

92. Energy Security: Investment or Insecurity

Author:
Fatih Birol
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The world is facing twin energy-related threats: that of not having adequate and secure supplies of energy at affordable prices and that of environmental harm caused by consuming too much of it. Soaring energy prices and recent geopolitical events have reminded us of the essential role energy plays in economic growth and development and of the vulnerability of the energy system to supply disruptions. Safeguarding energy supplies is once again at the top of the international policy agenda. Yet the current pattern of energy supply carries the threat of severe and irreversible environmental damage, including changes in global climate. Reconciling the goals of energy security and environmental protection requires strong and coordinated government action and public support.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Economics, and Energy Policy

93. Climate Change and Conflict: The Migration Link

Author:
Nils Petter Gleditsch, Idean Salehyan, and Ragnhild Nordås
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In October 2003, a report to the US Department of Defense received wide public attention for presenting a grim future scenario with warring states and massive social disturbance as a result of dramatic climate change. Although not intended to be a prediction, the authors nevertheless argued the plausibility of a scenario for rapid climate change which could result in a significant drop in the human carrying capacity of the earth's environment—food, water, and energy shortages, as well as extreme weather patterns. In turn, resource constraints and environmental damage could lead to geopolitical destabilization, skirmishes and even war.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States

94. Poverty and Conflict: The Inequality Link

Author:
Ravi Kanbur
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The focus of this paper is on conflicts within states. These range from the full scale armed conflict of a civil war (between two “states within states”), through relatively isolated and contained low intensity insurrection against the state, to regular bouts of communal violence in a “well functioning” state. I wish to ask how poverty and inequality causally interact with these phenomena. The causality from conflict to poverty is not much in doubt and stands to reason—conflict destroys or impairs incentives for productive economic investment and innovation at all levels. However, the precise nature of causality in the other direction, from poverty and inequality to conflict, is more ambiguous and subject to greater debate. It is this causal chain that is the focus of this working paper; but in order to do this we in turn need a more nuanced characterization and discussion of inequality and poverty concepts and trends. Certain types of inequality, in particular, will be seen to be particularly fertile ground for conflict; other types may be more benign. And if the attempts to reduce poverty through economic growth lead to initial increases in the “wrong” type of inequality, the conflicts this engenders may dissipate beneficial effects of poverty reduction on conflict. However, each scenario will have essentially specific features related to structural and historical factors that differ from country to country. The general principles will thus have to be applied carefully in designing country specific policies and interventions. The second section of the paper introduces some basic concepts of poverty and inequality and reviews their strengths and limitations in helping us understand the origins of conflict. Section three turns to the theory and evidence of the causal links between poverty, inequality, and conflict. Based on this analysis, section four discusses policies to reduce the likelihood of conflict, while the fifth section offers a conclusion.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, and Civil War

95. Population Trends: Humanity in Transition

Author:
Joseph Chamie
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
During the twenty-first century billions of people are expected to join the world's current population of 6.7 billion. Virtually all of these newcomers will be born in the less developed countries of the world, and many in the least-developed.
Topic:
International Relations, Demographics, Economics, Environment, and Health

96. Global Public Health and Biosecurity: Managing Twenty-First Century Risks

Author:
Margaret E. Kruk
Publication Date:
07-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In this first decade of the twenty-first century, we have reason both to commend and to decry the state of human health and our ability to improve it. We have achieved a maximum life expectancy of eighty-six years and have found a way to manage, though not cure, the most deadly epidemic since the Black Plague, AIDS. We can keep up with mutating viruses to produce a new flu vaccine every year and we can save babies born only twenty-three weeks into a pregnancy. Yet that is only half the picture. We also live in a world where a Nigerian newborn has a nearly one in five chance of dying before reaching age five and her mother a one in sixteen chance of dying in one of her pregnancies. Life expectancy in parts of sub-Saharan Africa has fallen below forty years. We have experienced remarkable scientific advances over the past fifty years, although we have not been able to apply many of these to the bedside or to public health policy. And so we have powerful genetic tools to study the components of viral RNA but cannot predict when or even if the bird flu will spread to humans.
Topic:
International Relations, Globalization, Health, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

97. Food Security: Vulnerability Despite Abundance

Author:
Marc Cohen
Publication Date:
07-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. It has three facets: food availability, access to food, and food utilization. The last aspect refers to proper use of food, including adequate nutrition knowledge and practices. The reference to food preferences acknowledges that in extreme circumstances, people may eat otherwise unacceptable foods; however, such circumstances do not represent food security.
Topic:
Security, Agriculture, Economics, and Health

98. The UN Security Council's Counterterrorism Program: What Lies Ahead?

Author:
Alistair Millar, Eric Rosand, and Jason Ipe
Publication Date:
10-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Since September 2001, the Security Council and its various counterterrorism-related subsidiary bodies have made significant contributions to the global counterterrorism campaign, primarily through norm setting and institution building and by keeping terrorism on the political agenda while engaging in dialogue with—and stimulating the activities of—states and multilateral bodies. Yet, rather than together constituting a comprehensive strategy to address the global terrorist threat, each Council initiative has had an improvisational, ad hoc quality. Following each major terrorist attack—often against one of its own members—the Council's response has extended well beyond the specific incident at hand with little regard to its relation to the already existing Council program.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Peace Studies, Terrorism, United Nations, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and International Security

99. Managing Contradictions: The Inherent Dilemmas of Postwar Statebuilding

Author:
Timothy D. Sisk and Roland Paris
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
State building—the construction of legitimate, effective governmental institutions—is a crucial element in any larger effort to create the conditions for a durable peace and human development in countries that are just emerging from war. In recent years, state building has emerged as a central goal of multidimensional United Nations peace operations in war-torn societies, and for good reason. Without functioning and legitimate state institutions, post conflict societies are less likely to escape the dual “traps” of violence and poverty.
Topic:
Political Violence, Development, Peace Studies, Poverty, United Nations, and War

100. State-building and Constitutional Design after Conflict

Author:
Kristi Samuels and Vanessa Hawkins Wyeth
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of constitutional choices made after conflict, drawing upon comparative studies of six constitutions and peace agreements. The paper attempts to synthesize the practical lessons drawn from the cases, with a focus on (i) the constitution-making process; (ii) the extent of reliance on executive and geographical power-sharing; (iii) the viability of checks and balances; (iv) the electoral model; (v) the role of political parties in the transition; and (vi) issues of implementation.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Development, and Government