The Era of Armed Non-State Actors – Void in international Law
International law about war and peace fails to respond to the shift from “traditional” wars among states to violent conflicts with and among armed non-state actors. At its core are…
The Era of Armed Non-State Actors – Risks of Global Chaos
The Changing Character of Conflict Platform project explores changes in five dimensions of conflict, namely actors involved in conflict, impact of conflict on civilians, environments in which conflict takes place,…
Rethinking Peacebuilding: Transforming the UN Approach
Since the end of the Cold War, the UN has found itself intervening directly within its member states to help them end intrastate conflicts and rebuild their war-torn countries. Peacekeeping…
In Search of Pathways to Peace
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres plans to instil new life into the United Nations by making prevention of wars and armed conflicts the hallmark of his administration. This is laudable!…
Global Peace Needs an Updated UN Charter
The worldwide increase in armed intra-state conflicts will make it necessary to expand the mandate of the UN Charter. Although this would be the first substantive revision of the UN…
An opportunity the United Nations and its Secretary-General must not miss
Behind the doom and gloom over mounting great-power tensions, fading hopes for a liberal world order, a decline of multilateralism there might be a unique opportunity to reposition the United…
Conflicts inside states demand a new global security regime
Dark clouds of war are gathering once again. Military posturing among major powers has increased and spending on ever more sophisticated and deadly weapons systems is soaring. The tone of…
Keeping or Building Peace?
The world faces old and new security challenges that are more complex than our multilateral and national institutions are currently capable of managing. International cooperation is ever more necessary in…
Afghanistan: Peace In A Glasshouse
The Emergency Loya Jirga is over. Given circumstances it was no doubt a success. It took place at the time foreseen in the Bonn Agreement; it brought together in apparent…
Foreign Troops And Peace In Afghanistan
The President of the Interim Administration for Afghanistan has recently made great efforts to convince the international community to increase the deployment of foreign troops in his country. In doing…