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Begin New Search Topic Conflict Prevention Publishing Institution International Peace Institute

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. Issue Brief: Perspectives on the Peacebuilding Commission's Coordination Role

Author:
Jenna Slotin
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The founding resolutions of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) state that one of the main purposes of the commission is “to improve the coordination of all relevant actors within and outside the United Nations.” What does this mean for an intergovernmental advisory organ? Can the PBC really be expected to coordinate the many UN agencies, funds, and programs on the ground, let alone the many bilateral, multilateral, and nongovernmental actors that are present in a postconflict country? What does the PBC have to offer with respect to coordination?
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Peace Studies, and United Nations

26. Issue Brief: Perspectives on the Peacebuilding Commission and Mutual Accountability

Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Mutual accountability has become one of several principles that underpin the PBC's work. The commission has facilitated the articulation of mutual commitments as part of the peacebuilding frameworks developed in Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, and the Central African Republic. This has begun to fill an important gap. But, the PBC has so far not fulfilled the full promise of this principle: to serve as a forum where national and international actors can hold each other to their commitments. This brief reflects on the PBC's experience with mutual accountability and puts it into a broader context to highlight why it is an area where the PBC can potentially add value.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Peace Studies, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Africa, Sierra Leone, and Burundi

27. 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

28. Beyond Market Forces: Regulating the Global Security Industry

Author:
James Cockayne (ed.)
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Book
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:
Conflict Prevention, Security, and Markets
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, China, and Iraq

29. 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

30. 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