While the importance of good governance to sustaining peace is widely recognized, the focus tends to be on national governance. This overlooks the crucial role of local governance actors, particularly when the central government is fragmented or lacks broad legitimacy. These actors include not only formal institutions like municipal governments but also a mix of […]
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The head of the United Nations’ mission in Somalia told an IPI audience on January 24th that there was now a “massive political mobilization” in the long fractured country that might produce its first national government in 26 years.“Even though the process has been very messy, the outcomes of it have been very positive and […]
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“Sustaining Peace in an Urban World” was the subject of a series of four panels ranging across challenges that urban environments present for UN activities, on December 14, 2016, at the UN Headquarters in New York.Explaining the sessions’ purpose, Jimena Leiva-Roesch, Policy Analyst at the International Peace Institute (IPI)—one of the organizations co-sponsoring the event—said […]
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How can open societies cope with threats that do not respect borders, from terrorist attacks, to cyber threats, to pandemics, to refugees and migrants? Is the fear caused by their “openness” fueling a rise in ideology and intolerance, and will this cause open societies to become more closed? And with open societies under attack, what […]
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Hilde Johnson, the former United Nations mission head in South Sudan and author of a new book on the country’s descent into violence since its founding in 2011, came to IPI on October 5 to describe in harrowing detail the circumstances of the fledging state’s convulsive first five years and to lay responsibility on the […]
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The outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in West Africa from 2014 to 2015 underscored the fragility of public health services in countries emerging from protracted conflict, as well as the link between governance and health. In both Sierra Leone and Liberia, war had seriously undermined the health sector. Ebola arrived as the large-scale postwar […]
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This expert seminar on environmental governance and peacebuilding was held in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 20, at the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA)’s Headquarters. Researchers from multiple institutions including the Environmental Law Institute, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), Stockholm University, University of Maryland, and Uppsala University, presented their most recent findings in the field of environmental […]
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Taavi Rõivas, Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia, explained the extraordinary gains the digital landscape is bringing to Estonia to an IPI audience, May 3, 2016.“Estonia saves two percent of GDP by signing things digitally,” he said. “Imagine if it could go global.”Since regaining its independence in 1991, Estonia has achieved significant economic growth. […]
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On November 18th, the Independent Commission on Multilateralism hosted its second Public Consultation on its Discussion Paper on “Social Inclusion, Political Participation, and Effective Governance in Challenging Environments.”Click here to view the event video on YouTube>>Governance systems globally are facing a growing crisis of legitimacy vis-à-vis their constituents at state and multilateral levels. Local challenges […]
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A panel of academics, experts, and policy-makers considered the next generation of peace and security challenges at this year’s International Expert Forum (IEF) on governance, peacebuilding, and state-society relations, part of IEF’s series on 21st-century peacebuilding.Gert Rosenthal, Chair of the UN Advisory Group of Experts on Review of Peacebuilding Architecture, said UN reform would be […]
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Today marks the 25th anniversary of the passage of Resolution 1325, which launched the women, peace, and security (WPS) agenda. This resolution…
Never has the cliché that we are at a pivotal moment in Middle East diplomacy been more…
It has now been more than four years since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021.…
This month marks the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security (WPS). What is the state of the WPS agenda 25 years on? While the WPS agenda…
We concluded our recent book, Governing the Feminist Peace, with an exhortation to “forget WPS”—to abandon attempts to force coherence onto an agenda that had become so sprawling and intricate over its first two decades. Imagine our horror when US Secretary of…
The year 2015 was a landmark moment for multilateralism. In September,…
In 2024, global military expenditures reached $2.7 trillion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). This represents a 9.4% increase in real terms over 2023, the highest…
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