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271. Police Corruption: What Past Scandals Teach about Current Challenges

Author:
Robert Perito and David Bayley
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Police corruption is an international problem. Historically, police misconduct has been a factor in the development of police institutions worldwide, but it is a particular problem in counterinsurgency and peacekeeping operations, such as the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization police training program in Afghanistan. There, police abuse and corruption appear endemic and have caused some Afghans to seek the assistance of the Taliban against their own government. The most reliable and extensive knowledge about police corruption in the world's Englishspeaking countries is found in the reports of specially appointed blue-ribbon commissions, independent of government, created for the sole purpose of conducting investigations of police corruption. To reduce police corruption, the commissions recommend creating external oversight over the police with a special focus on integrity, improving recruitment and training, leadership from supervisors of all ranks about integrity, holding all commanders responsible for the misbehavior of subordinates, and changing the organization's culture to tolerate misbehavior less. The remedies proposed by the commissions, however, rely on a set of contextual conditions not commonly found in countries emerging from conflict or facing serious threats to their security. This report suggests triage and bootstraps as strategies for reducing police corruption in countries with security threats. Triage involves targeting assistance in countries where there are solid prospects for tipping police practice in the desired direction. Bootstraps involves using reform within the police itself as a lever to encourage systemic social and political reform in countries in crisis or emerging from conflict.
Topic:
Security, Corruption, Crime, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and United States

272. 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

273. Peace and Development Efforts in Afghanistan: A Lost Decade

Author:
Patryk Kugiel
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
When international intervention put an end to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001 thousands of Afghans went out to the streets to celebrate a new beginning. After 20 years of bloody civil wars in the country, many had hoped that a new era of stability and prosperity was about to begin. The devastating terrorist attacks in the U.S., which brought the international coalition to Afghanistan, was seen as a guarantee that the West would not abandon the country before it was put back in order. Afghanistan could have been a model of post-conflict reconstruction.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, NATO, War, Law Enforcement, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and United States

274. 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

275. Prioritizing Protection from Mass Atrocities: Lessons from Burundi

Author:
Gregory Mthembu-Salter, Elana Berger, and Naomi Kikoler
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:
Over the course of the past forty years, waves of interethnic conflict in Burundi have killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced over a million more. In 1993 the assassination of Melchior Ndadaye, the country's first Hutu president, by paratroopers from Burundi's Tutsi dominated armed forces, set off another round of violence with Hutu militias attacking Tutsi civilians and the armed forces retaliating by attacking Hutu communities. The situation ultimately devolved into a civil war that lasted for more than ten years.
Topic:
Ethnic Conflict, Genocide, Human Rights, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Africa and Burundi

276. Great Expectations: UN Peacekeeping, Civilian Protection, and the Use of Force

Author:
Alan Doss
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
The proliferation of intra-state conflicts in the post-Cold War era has led to a substantial increase in the number of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations, resulting in the creation of forty-eight peacekeeping missions since 1990. The unprecedented challenges faced in the 1990's – and in particular, the failures in Rwanda, Srebrenica, and Somalia – obliged the UN to revisit and rethink its peacekeeping strategies.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Cold War, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Rwanda and Somalia

277. For a Renewed Consensus on UN Peacekeeping Operations

Author:
Thierry Tardy
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Contrary to some predictions of decline in United Nations (UN) involvement in peacekeeping (alongside the increasing role of regional organizations), the last decade has been characterized by a constant increase in personnel deployed in UN peacekeeping operations, demonstrating both the legitimacy of the UN for this type of activity, and its flexibility and adaptability. More precisely, the wide range of instruments at the disposal of the UN in the field of conflict management makes it a permanent option as well as a facilitator of burden sharing among organizations.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, United Nations, and Peacekeeping

278. Shaky Foundations: An Assessment of the UN's Rule Of Law Support Agenda

Author:
Bruce Jones and Camino Kavanagh
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract:
As we began the process of drafting this review, citizens across the Middle East and North Africa took to the streets to demand an end to the abusive practices of the security services, more representative and responsive government institutions, the protection of their rights, greater access to economic opportunity, participation in decision-making, and access to justice. They began demanding, in short, the rule of law.
Topic:
Security, Cold War, Democratization, International Cooperation, Post Colonialism, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arabia, and North Africa

279. Belgium, from Model to Case Study for Conflict Resolution

Author:
Jonas Claes and Valerie Rosoux
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Since 2007, Belgium has displayed a rather surreal degree of political chaos. Belgian politicians have provoked three cabinet resignations, 24 “royal” mediators, and more than 420 days of coalition formation. With the rise of Flemish nationalism and intercommunal tensions, the country seems to suffer from an intractable ethno-linguistic conflict. The maximum degree of reform Walloon parties can settle with is by far insufficient to Flemish nationalists, whose package of demands is considered unacceptable in Wallonia. One way forward is the creation of a nation-wide electoral district for federal elections in which every Belgian, regardless of residence, can vote for Flemish and Walloon candidates.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Economics, Education, Peace Studies, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Europe and Belgium

280. The Other Side of Gender: Including Masculinity Concerns in Conflict and Peacebuilding

Author:
Kathleen Kuehnast and Nina Sudhakar
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Gender is often used synonymously with the study of women. This narrow approach overlooks the relational quality of gender and fails to include masculinity issues in analysis and research, which can have important bearing on policy interventions. Taking a more inclusive view of gender roles in conflict, which also recognizes that these roles are dynamic, can lead to more informed research strategies and more productive policy interventions. To effectively combat instances of extreme gender violence, such as the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, a more nuanced understanding is needed of the actors involved. Instead of being passive actors during conflict, women may be combatants or direct participants in sexual violence. Examining the motivations, belief systems and internal dynamics of armed combatants can provide insight into the origins of sexual- and gender-based violence in conflict. Rather than representing an isolated event, sexual- and gender-based violence during conflict can perhaps best be viewed as a point along a continuum. In the postconflict period, damaged social and economic systems may contribute to the disempowerment of men seeking to return to traditional or customary roles. Coupled with the enduring impacts of trauma, the threat of emasculation can result in high levels of violence within the household environment.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Gender Issues, Peace Studies, and Peacekeeping