Number of results to display per page
Search Results
392. Post-War and Post-Conflict Challenges for Development Cooperation
- Author:
- Sabine Kurtenbach
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Institute for Development and Peace
- Abstract:
- Conflict and violence have become an important context for development cooperation during the last decade. Donors not only have to cope with the consequences of conflict in their day-to-day work on the ground, but also need to develop strategies in the fields of early warning and prevention, as well as instruments for conflict analysis and conflic-sensitive approaches for cooperation. At the same time, external actors have been important supporters for many peace processes aiming at the termination of armed conflicts and violence. When wars or armed conflicts end (or at least when violence on the ground decreases) the hope for sustainable peacebuilding grows. UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon pointed out the importance of the immediate post-conflict/post-war period in a report to the Security Council on June 11, 2009: “The immediate post-conflict period offers a window of opportunity to provide basic security, deliver peace dividends, shore up and build confidence in the political process, and strengthen core national capacity to lead peacebuilding efforts.” This gives a first impression of the many challenges internal and external actors face; at the same time experiences on the ground show that liberal peacebuilding conceived as a profound transformation process is a difficult endeavour.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Development, War, and Armed Struggle
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
393. Anna-Karin Lindblom. Non-Governmental Organizations in International Law • Sergey Ripinsky and Peter Van den Bossche. NGO Involvement in International Organizations • Anton Vedder (ed.). NGO Involvement in International Governance and Policy: Sources of Legitimacy • Pierre-Marie Dupuy and Luisa Vierucci (eds). NGOs in International Law: Efficiency in Flexibility?
- Author:
- Zoe Pearson
- Publication Date:
- 11-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- There is little doubt that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are an enduring phenomenon in international law. While the formal involvement of NGOs with the United Nations (UN) system has longevity, tracing back to provisions in Article 71 of the UN Charter, discourses of globalization have given added impetus to their presence in international law under the broad church of 'global civil society'. The Chair of the recent Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations– Civil Society Relations set up to examine the relationship of NGOs with the UN system characterized the rise of civil society as one of the 'landmark events of our times'. 2 This visibility has meant that NGOs have increasingly become a source of debate amongst international legal scholars. Some commentators welcome the participation of NGOs in inter - national legal and political processes, while others express unease about the involvement of NGOs within the international system and question the legitimacy of this presence. The involvement of NGOs in international law therefore remains contested, and key issues about the extent and nature of their participation, their legal status and legitimacy as actors in international law are unresolved. The four volumes under review take us some steps further along in understanding the present and potential participation of NGOs in international law in a number of ways. First, these volumes provide a comprehensive picture of how the presence of NGOs in the international legal and political systems has evolved into the many varying arrangements that NGOs have with international organizations. Second, the volumes seek to engage with some of the more intractable issues; in particular, these volumes explore the challenging questions about the legitimacy of NGOs as actors in international law. Finally, these volumes highlight that this inquiry is a fundamentally inter-disciplinary exercise; going beyond legal analysis, it is important to consider the basis on which the legal status of NGOs rests.
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
394. U.S. Security Engagement in Africa
- Author:
- William M. Bellamy
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- Despite significant recent gains, Africa's security environment remains fragile with a wide array of ongoing and emerging threats placing great strains on already overburdened governments. United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa have realized some success in recent years, especially when they have involved direct support from members of the Security Council. Much more cohesive interagency coordination under strong White House direction is required if the United States is to contribute to Africa's sustained stability given the region's persistent conditions of poverty, inequality, and weak governance.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Security, International Security, International Affairs, and Military Strategy
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United Nations
395. Bridging the North-South Divide on Climate Post Copenhagen
- Author:
- John Whalley and Sean Walsh
- Publication Date:
- 12-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- The United Nations climate change negotiations currently underway and now seemingly likely to conclude only six to 12 months after the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) hosted meeting at Copenhagen in December 2009, are beset by a series of obstacles, the most fundamental of which reflect the North-South divide, largely between the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and non-OECD economies. In this brief we argue that movement across this divide is the single most important element in a successful conclusion to the negotiation. Current obstacles reflect asymmetries between developing and developed countries both in terms of growth in carbon emissions — and hence the costs of reducing emissions proportionately relative to some base date level, but also in terms of historical emissions as a source of damage. These are compounded by the imprecision of the negotiating mandate — a lack of a clear definition of the basic principles involved, particularly in the case of the original UNFCCC principle of common yet differentiated responsibilities, which accepts but does not clearly delineate differentiated responsibilities for developing and developed countries on climate change. Significant movement in the negotiating position of either side (or both) is likely a necessity for a climate deal to be reached even in post-Copenhagen negotiations. However, the recent unilateral commitment by China to reduce emissions by 40-45 percent per unit of GDP from a 2005 base year by 2020 is a positive first step.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Development, Environment, Treaties and Agreements, and Third World
- Political Geography:
- China and United Nations
396. Reframing Nuclear De-Alert: Decreasing the Operational Readiness of U.S. and Russian Nuclear Arsenals
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- Nearly twenty years after the end of the Cold War, Russia and the United States continue to maintain hundreds of nuclear weapons capable of striking the other side, and to have at least some of these nuclear forces at Cold War levels of alert, that is, ready to fire within a few minutes of receiving an order to do so. Even during the Cold War, alert levels were not static and moved up or down in step with changes in the strategic and tactical environments. While the operational readiness of some weapon systems has been reduced, there has been no major change in the readiness levels of most of the nuclear weapon systems in the post–Cold War era. This is in considerable part because Russia and the United States believe that despite fundamental changes in their overall relationship, vital interest requires maintaining a high level of nuclear deterrence. The post–Cold War experience also demonstrates that alert levels can be reduced and measures can be taken to reduce the risk of accidents or unauthorized takeover of nuclear weapons. Further measures could be taken to reduce operational readiness of nuclear arsenals. U.S. and Russian experts alike stressed survivability as a key element in the acceptance of these measures because of its importance to maintaining deterrence.
- Topic:
- Cold War, Nuclear Weapons, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, and United Nations
397. Montenegro's Strategic Priorities on the Path of Euro-Atlantic Integration
- Author:
- Gordana Djurović
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- Euro-Atlantic integration is the best framework for ensuring the long-term stability and security of the countries in the Western Balkans, and is the precondition for their economic development. Euro-Atlantic frameworks provide mechanisms for establishing confidence between countries in the regions, as well as strengthening cooperation and understanding, in the area of security and in many other fields. This is the reason why Montenegro fully supports the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of its neighbors, with a focus on regional cooperation and participation in all regional initiatives that are based on a good-neighbor policy. Montenegro's strategic priorities on the international level are building positive relations with its neighbors, increasing the level of regional security, and contributing to peacekeeping and stability in the world through participation in international missions and operations led by the UN, the EU, and NATO. At the same time, practical and efficient realization and implementation of a range of Partnership for Peace mechanisms have enabled Montenegro to gain access in a very short period of time to the Intensified Dialogue with NATO, and to begin the initial stages of the Membership Action Plan. Montenegro is ready to respond as rapidly as possible to all challenges that might arise in its path toward NATO membership, and looks forward to working in consultation and assistance with NATO, its neighbors, and other member states of NATO and the PfP.
- Topic:
- Security and NATO
- Political Geography:
- Europe and United Nations
398. Kelly: Law, Violence, and Sovereignty among West Bank Palestinians
- Author:
- Samera Esmeir
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- Little is written about Palestinian law and society, and Tobias Kelly's Law, Violence and Sovereignty among West Bank Palestinians comes as an ethnographic and theoretical contribution to this small and growing field. Focusing on the everyday application of the law and life of West Bank workers, Kelly, an anthropologist who has conducted long-term fieldwork in the occupied Palestinian territories, exposes the abstract nature of regimes of power. While these regimes are often understood as suspending the law and legitimizing violence, they emerge in Kelly's analysis as having created an intimate relationship between legal orders of rights and violence. The book focuses on legal practice, rather than legal doctrine, and inquires into how law, rights claims, and spaces of jurisdictions are mobilized in the village where Kelly conducted his fieldwork (given the fictional name of Bayt Hajjar). Instead of viewing rights talk as alien and imposed from above and reducing all frameworks of moral and political reference to that of the law, the book reveals the many meanings acquired by the law in its everyday coexistence with other significant relationships: "For the residents of Bayt Hajjar, rights claims do not emerge in an abstract legal universe, but are created in the context of ongoing, morally charged relationships, involving elements of village and national solidarity. The result is a profoundly ambivalent attitude to legal claims".
- Political Geography:
- Palestine, Arabia, United Nations, and Lebanon
399. Nepal's Election and Beyond
- Publication Date:
- 04-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Nepal's peace process faces a crucial test this month. Elections for a Constituent Assembly (CA) are likely to go ahead on 10 April 2008 as scheduled but political unrest and violence could mar – or even derail – preparations, and the aftermath could bring turbulence. Elections in a delicate post-conflict situation are never straightforward and Nepal has many possible flashpoints, not least that the two armies that fought the war remain intact, politically uncompromising and combat-ready. Once results are in, all political players must be prepared for a difficult period in which they will need to compromise to make the CA an effective body, extend the number of parties with a role in government and urgently tackle crucial issues left aside during the campaign, including security sector reform. The international community has an important election observation function and should listen to Nepal's political and civil society groups in assessing the credibility of the process.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, and Democratization
- Political Geography:
- India, Asia, Nepal, and United Nations
400. Reunifying Cyprus: The Best Chance Yet
- Publication Date:
- 06-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- A new peace process in Cyprus offers the best opportunity in decades to solve the intractable division of the island. The turnabout is largely due to the surprise election of Demetris Christofias to the Greek Cypriot presidency. He, together with his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, Mehmet Ali Talat, are demonstrating political will to make the current UN-mediated talks succeed. Key players like Turkey are being constructive. The outside world, particularly the UN and European Union (EU), needs to fully engage in support of a comprehensive settlement that will improve Cypriot security and prosperity, free Turkey to continue its movement into Europe and overcome a problem that is increasingly damaging to EU policy in the region and beyond.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Diplomacy, International Political Economy, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Europe and United Nations