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131. Termites at Work: Transnational Organized Crime and State Erosion in Kenya

Author:
Peter Gastrow
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The threat posed by organized crime is not confined to serious crimes such as racketeering, the global drug trade, or human trafficking. For many developing countries and fragile states, powerful transnational criminal networks constitute a direct threat to the state itself, not through open confrontation but by penetrating state institutions through bribery and corruption and by subverting or undermining them from within. Governments that lack the capacity to counter such penetration, or that acquiesce in it, run the risk of becoming criminalized or “captured” states. This paper examines whether Kenya faces such a threat.
Topic:
Corruption, Crime, Government, and Fragile/Failed State
Political Geography:
Kenya and Africa

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

Author:
Patrice Sartre
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
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, Security, United Nations, and Peacekeeping

133. 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

134. Bridge over the Dniestr: Confidence-Building Measures in Moldova

Author:
Walter Kemp
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Damaged by shelling during the 1992 conflict, the Gura Bicului Bridge, which spans the Dniestr river, was reconstructed in 2001 with money from the European Union. The bridge—along the main highway between the Black Sea and the Baltic coast—should facilitate trade and contacts between Moldova and the break-away region of Transdniestria. But it has never been reopened: only pedestrians and bicyclists are allowed to cross. It stands as a potent symbol of how hard it has been, for the past twenty years, to bridge the two sides of the Dniestr.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Diplomacy, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Europe, Moldova, and Asia

135. 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

136. Bombs and Ballots: Terrorism, Political Violence, and Governance in Bangladesh

Author:
Naureen Chowdhury Fink
Publication Date:
02-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
International initiatives to counter terrorism and militancy have more often than not been directed at the military aspects of such threats, with insufficient attention paid to the specific context—the social, political, and regional dynamics—in which they evolve. In Bangladesh, for example, the combination of development challenges, weak governance, violent politics, and regional tensions has proved a combustible mix. These have prompted fears that the state is growing increasingly fragile and that it may be unable to withstand the threats posed by terrorism and violent religious radicalization over the long term.
Topic:
Political Violence, Terrorism, International Security, and Governance
Political Geography:
Bangladesh and South Asia

137. Security and Development: Searching for Critical Connections

Author:
Neclâ Tschirgi (ed.), Michael S. Lund (ed.), and Francesco Mancini (ed.)
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Academic research bears some good news: the number of wars and the lethality of warfare have been declining since 1992. This includes civil wars, which decreased from a high of forty-six in 1992 to twenty-one in 2006. In the same stretch of time, the most severe conflicts declined by 80 percent. Yet deeper analysis of these trends provides disturbing findings. The University of Maryland's report Peace and Conflict 2008 notes that the downward trend in conflict is not the result of effective prevention of new conflicts but rather the termination of ongoing wars. The report confirms that the number of ongoing active conflicts dropped significantly over the post–Cold War period. Meanwhile, there has been no discernible change in the number of newly initiated conflicts. In fact, in the report's words, “for the past sixty years, the rate at which new armed conflicts emerge each year has been essentially unchanged.” This suggests that, despite almost two decades of research, advocacy, and action, international efforts to prevent violent conflicts have seriously lagged behind efforts to resolve existing conflicts. If the steady out-break of new wars is to be arrested and reversed, the conflict prevention agenda that gained prominence in the immediate post–Cold War years needs to be revitalized. This requires deeper investigation of the sources of violent intrastate conflicts that threaten both human and international security.
Topic:
Security, Cold War, Development, and Peace Studies

138. Nuclear Energy, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament: Briefing Notes for the 2010 NPT Review Conference

Author:
Christine Wing and François Carrel-Billiard
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference that is being held in New York in May 2010 coincides with the fortieth anniversary of the entry into force of the treaty. Although the NPT is commonly hailed as an essential pillar of international security, opinions greatly diverge when it comes to assessing the implementation of the treaty's three main objectives: promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy, preventing the diversion of nuclear materials to weapons, and committing states to engage in disarmament.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Energy Policy, Nuclear Weapons, Treaties and Agreements, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and International Security
Political Geography:
New York and North Korea

139. 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

140. 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