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1. 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

2. The Management Handbook for UN Field Missions

Author:
Arthur Boutellis and Adam C. Smith
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Why.Is.Management.Important? The UN field mission is a complex beast. From the smallest political mission to the largest peacekeeping operation, it employs a uniquely diverse staff and performs a broad array of tasks in an environment that is sometimes dangerous, often unstable, and always challenging. Resources are scarce and inflexible. Internal regulations and procedures are cumbersome, and, at times, can impede rather than facilitate success. On top of it all, success is often hard to measure or even recognize. Unlike the private sec-tor, success in the field does not come from increased quarterly profits, but rather from a conflict prevented, the perception of a peace dividend, or the renewed optimism of a host population. Unfortunately, UN staff can only contribute to these goals, as so many factors are beyond the mission's control.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Security, International Organization, United Nations, and Peacekeeping

3. What Impact? The E10 and the 2011 Security Council

Author:
Naureen Chowdhury Fink, Paul Romita, and Till Papenfuss
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Much has already been written about the 2011 Security Council. This has been with good reason. The current configuration of powerful non-permanent members with aspirations for permanent seats is notable. As a result, there has been widespread speculation regarding the impact so many large members will have on the tone and substance of the Council's work this year. Like last year, when countries like Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, and Turkey all served together, the collective strength of the non-permanent or elected membership is impressive.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Cooperation, International Organization, United Nations, and War
Political Geography:
Japan, Turkey, Libya, Brazil, Mexico, and Nigeria

4. 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

5. Program on Economic Agendas in Civil Wars: Principal Research Findings and Policy Recommendations

Author:
Karen Ballentine
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The Program on Economic Agendas in Civil Wars (EACW) was launched in 2000 in response to a convergence of political factors, academic interests, and policy concerns that pointed to the need for conflict prevention and resolution policies to be informed by a systematic understanding of the economic dimensions of contemporary civil wars. Preliminary studies undertaken by the International Peace Academy, the World Bank, and university researchers generated many of the broad propositions that guided the program's research and policy development design. These included assumptions that: Economic factors are consequential to warring elites' decisions to pursue war and peace; Economic greed and not socio-economic or political grievance is the chief driver of armed conflict; Countries with a relatively high dependence on natural resources are at higher risk of conflict; and Global economic flows (trade, aid, and investment) affect the incidence, duration, intensity, and character of armed conflict.
Topic:
Economics, International Organization, and Peace Studies

6. From Promise to Practice: Revitalizing the General Assembly for the New Millennium

Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The International Peace Academy (IPA), in collaboration with and thanks to generous support from the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, convened a high-level retreat on May 16-17 entitled From Promise to Practice: Revitalizing the General Assembly for the New Millennium. The retreat brought together, in an informal setting, approximately twenty-five permanent representatives and a very few deputy permanent representatives in addition to a member of the Secretariat and a key outside expert respectively over dinner and one full day of deliberations at the Greentree Estate in Manhasset, New York.
Topic:
International Organization, Peace Studies, and United Nations
Political Geography:
New York

7. From Promise to Practice: Strengthening UN Capacities for the Prevention of Violent Conflict

Author:
Karin Wermester and Chandra Lekha Sriram
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
While the promise of conflict prevention has risen to the fore of international policy agenda since the end of the 1990s, its practice and effectivenes remain elusive. Following in the footsteps of peacebuilding, conflict prevention is a loose conceptual framework for the increasingly broad range of actors engaged in conflict-affected zones. The concept of conflict prevention expands the scope of peacebuilding temporally and spatially, calling for the early prevention of violent conflict and the prevention of further outbreaks through "structural" as well as "operational" initiatives. It promises cross-cutting approaches to mitigate the sources of potential conflict rather than merely the symptoms at arguably a lesser cost and with great potential for lasting peace than other forms of intervention. The challenge, of course, is that violent conflict can be hard to predict, especially in the early phases when efforts to prevent its escalation might be most valuable. More, it is harder to prevent effectively, and further to demonstrate that preventive initiatives have been successful.
Topic:
International Organization, Peace Studies, and United Nations

8. Sustainable Peace as Democratization: The Experiences of Haiti and Guatemala

Author:
Sara Lodge, Chetan Kumar, and Karen Resnick
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
This comparison of international efforts to encourage and sustain peace in Guatemala and Haiti derives from the heavy involvement of the international community in peacebuilding in both countries during the 1990s. Civil conflict in both countries has resulted from a combination of exclusionary politics and domination by predatory economic elites. The conclusions advanced below should assist in the assessment of international strategies for addressing political and economic turmoil in similarly distressed countries in the future.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Human Rights, International Law, International Organization, Migration, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Haiti and Guatemala

9. Discussions at the Release of The Responsibility to Protect

Author:
Simon Chesterman
Publication Date:
02-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Canadian Foreign Minister William Graham and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan were keynote speakers at a seminar in New York on 15 February to discuss the final report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS). Entitled The Responsibility to Protect, the report was released at UN Headquarters last December. The seminar was organized by the International Peace Academy with the support of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to allow a frank discussion of the Commission's findings and recommendations. Although journalists were invited to the event, all statements except the keynote speeches were off the record.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Human Rights, International Law, International Organization, Migration, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Canada

10. From Promise to Practice: Strengthening UN Capacities for the Prevention of Violent Conflict

Author:
Chandra Lekha Sriram
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In the fall of 2000, the International Peace Academy commissioned a series of nine case studies examining the practice of preventive action. This study builds on earlier work by IPA identifying important issues for further examination in preventive practice. The cases examined were representative of the broad and increasing scope of preventive action geographically and in terms of approaches deployed—from structural prevention to post conflict peacebuilding as prevention. These cases were Kenya, Fiji, Tanzania (Zanzibar), Tajikistan, Burundi, Georgia (Javakheti), East Timor, Liberia, and Colombia. The cases are being edited and compiled for publication in a subsequent book; this report seeks to draw out central policy lessons for preventive action by the United Nations (UN). Important lessons can be drawn out with implications for each specific situation; more cross-cutting lessons for the UN and other preventive actors can also be derived from the collected cases.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Human Rights, International Law, International Organization, Migration, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States