At the core of every conflict lies a paradox: political elites claim to be acting on behalf of the people, but violence means that measuring public opinion is incredibly challenging. This is evident...
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Watching Armed Conflicts from Space
Leveraging open-access satellite images with deep learning can help humanitarian and human rights organizations address violent conflicts more rapidly. To ensure the effectiveness of remote...
Greece + 12 more
Home for Good? Obstacles and Opportunities for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Greece
LOCATION Greece RESEARCH QUESTION What obstacles and opportunities do refugees face integrating in Greece? TEAM Marine Casalis ETH Zurich Dominik Hangartner ETH Zurich Alexandra C. Hartman University...
UN Peacekeeping
The 75th anniversary of UN peacekeeping is cause for celebration. Research shows that UN troops can effectively curtail violence in wars between and within states. Yet, peacekeeping has always been...
The Role of Mediation Support Structures
Mediation is effective, under certain conditions. Yet the increase in geopolitical polarization and armed conflict raises the question of how mediation can be sustained and improved. Mediation...
World + 1 more
Satellite Imagery for Disaster Resilience
Increasing natural hazards and complex emergencies require optimizations in the Swiss civil protection system. Joining the EU’s Copernicus program could ensure satellite imagery access for disaster...
World + 1 more
Managing Disaster Costs
The increasing frequency and magnitude of climate-exacerbated hazards, coupled with the growing vulnerability of societies worldwide, are raising the financial costs of disasters. Governments...
Contact Theory with No Contact: Facilitating Dialogue Online
From a distance, the circles seem to be differentiated, yet a closer look reveals they share the exact same light-orange pigment – an optical illusion. While groups in conflict tend to develop...
Hotspot Balkans: Serbia and Kosovo
Despite various efforts at reconciliation, the road to a viable settlement between Serbia and Kosovo remains long. But without normalizing relations, neither Kosovo nor Serbia is likely to achieve...
Mediation Perspectives: MSN Commentary on the UN Guidance on Mediation of Ceasefires
Mediation Perspectives** is a regular series of blog contributions by the CSS Mediation Support Team and occasional guest authors.** In this blog, we discuss what ceasefires are and how they related...
Mediation Perspectives: MSN Commentary on the UN Practice Note on Climate Change and Peace Processes
Mediation Perspectives is a regular series of blog contributions by the CSS Mediation Support Team and occasional guest authors. In this blog, we discuss the implications of climate change for peace...
World + 1 more
The United Nations and Counterterrorism
The UN’s counterterrorism framework and its accompanying institutional architecture have grown rapidly since the attacks on 11 September 2001. While UN counterterrorism has made important...
No 131, Caucasus Analytical Digest: Informality and Informal Practices in the Time of COVID-19: The Case of Georgia
The topic of this issue is Informality and Informal Practices in the Time of COVID-19: The Case of Georgia. Firstly, Irakli Korkia addresses corruption by analyzing 1) simplified state procurement...
The Perils of Peacekeeping in Unstabilized Environments
MINUSMA operations in Mali confirm that peacekeeping missions are increasingly being conducted in complex and asymmetric environments. For Sofia Sebastian, how the UN addresses the dilemmas posed by...
Using Military Assistance To Combat The Use Of Child Soldiers
By Rachel Stohl and Shannon Dick for ISN Are we doing enough to prevent the use of child soldiers? Rachel Stohl and Shannon Dick have their doubts. While UN resolutions and national legislation are a...
An Addiction to Violence
Two years after the dramatic events in Tahrir Square, Egypt is sinking into political turmoil. Felix Imonti also detects a parallel and equally worrying trend – the formation of hardened street...
The Life of the Party: The UN's Plan for Ivory Coast
It’s been two years since the Côte d’Ivoire plunged into a brief but bloody civil war. IPI’s Jordan Katz reports on some of the follow-on problems the UN continues to face within the country,...
Why Should Distributing the Polio Vaccine in Pakistan lead to Death?
Omid Bidar on Thursday, 31 January 2013 The huge rise in militancy across Pakistan (pdf) is also creating a number of hazards for aid workers. On New Year’s Day gunmen on motorbikes ambushed and...
Côte d'Ivoire + 2 more
State Security Versus Security Sector Reform
Eighteen months after the post-electoral crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, the country's security sector remains both a source of conflict and a key to peace. At present, however, pressing security...
Morocco + 1 more
It's Time for the People to Choose
The intra-state conflict between Morocco and Western Sahara has been unaffected by the Arab Spring and remains neglected by the wider international community. This situation, argues Carne Ross, has...