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Begin New Search Political Geography Global Focus Author Priyal Singh

1. Toward a More Effective UN-AU Partnership on Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management

Author:
Daniel Forti and Priyal Singh
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute (IPI)
Abstract:
The United Nations and the African Union (AU) have worked in tandem since the AU’s establishment in 2002. During this time, their partnership has evolved to focus increasingly on conflict prevention and crisis management, culminating in the 2017 Joint UN-AU Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security. But while the organizations’ collaboration on peacekeeping has been extensively studied, other dimensions of the partnership warrant a closer look to understand how to foster political coherence and operational coordination. This report, done in partnership with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), therefore considers the evolution of the strategic partnership between the UN and the AU, with a focus on their approach to conflict prevention and crisis management. It looks at this partnership at the member-state level in the UN Security Council and AU Peace and Security Council, as well as at the operational level between various UN and AU entities. It also assesses the partnership across several thematic issues, including the AU’s Silencing the Guns initiative; mediation; women, peace, and security; electoral support; peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction and development; and youth, peace, and security. Based on this analysis, the paper offers several recommendations to guide UN and AU stakeholders in improving cooperation. These include strengthening council-to-council engagement, working toward a collective approach to conflict prevention and crisis management, creating a dedicated team within the AU Peace and Security Department to support the partnership, better aligning work on peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction and development, building momentum on the AU’s Silencing the Guns initiative, and expanding diplomatic capacities to support the partnership.
Topic:
Security, United Nations, Crisis Management, and African Union
Political Geography:
Africa and Global Focus

2. A fractured way forward for a Global Peace and Security Agenda

Author:
Priyal Singh
Publication Date:
09-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
In 2015, the United Nations (UN) took stock of three key global peace and security review processes, all of which contain various observations and recommendations to better prepare, inform, and potentially reform, the organisation. This Policy and Practice Brief (PPB) seeks to unpack these reviews, identify common threads and elements and provide insight on some of the deeper, underlying challenges and concerns that the organisation will need to address during this considerable period of institutional introspection – amidst growing international disillusionment and dissonance over the current state of global peace and security. The PPB begins by illustrating what led to the reviews and how each had been conducted. This is followed by an examination of the content of each of the reports, with particular regard to the respective central arguments, observations and general recommendations. The PPB then underscores the common threads contained in each report and provides an analysis of whether these reviews adequately consider the UN’s institutional responses, structure, and capabilities in light of the most pressing emergent international peace and security trends and developments. The PPB concludes by qualifying and drawing attention to the two overarching policy directions that currently confront the organisation, either toward some form of greater structural expansion or something more geared toward a deeper institutional rationalisation.
Topic:
United Nations, Peacekeeping, Global Security, and Peace
Political Geography:
Global Focus