| Recent news & Events |
Advice to the UN High Level Panel on the Post-MDG Agenda
May 2012
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon announced on Wednesday that Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and British Prime Minister David Cameron will head a high-level panel to advise on the post-2015 way forward. CIC's Alex Evans and David Steven set out eight actionable steps to help ensure that the Panel succeeds in steering the world towards a clear and coherent strategy for the post-2015 development framework.
Read the full memo here
The Use of Force, Crisis Diplomacy and the Responsibilities of States
May 2012
The Libyan and Syrian crises have caused major international rifts over the use of force and crisis management. In February CIC convened a conference with the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute and the Brookings Institution to address how the U.S., its allies and emerging powers can rebuild trust around crisis diplomacy. The event involved scholars and officials from the U.S., Europe, China, India and Brazil. CIC is now publishing the conference background paper on the "responsibility to get serious" in crisis management with a further paper reflecting on the discussions in Abu Dhabi, which identified areas for diplomatic progress.
Read the conference report here
 © REUTERS/ Mohamed Abd El-Ghany The Syrian crisis has become a major test for international cooperation in crisis management. The Security Council has become a focus for extended diplomatic conflict between the West and the BRICS. The Arab League has been directly involved in monitoring the crisis, while the EU has imposed heavy sanctions on Damascus. CIC Staff has written extensively on the multilateral dimensions of the crisis and been cited in the following articles:
Clinton Sees NATO Role in Pressuring Syria's Assad Regime for Bloomberg News by Nicole Gaouette and Flavia Krause-Jackson | April 19
UN Monitors Head to Syria as Cease-Fire at Risk for Bloomberg News and Business Week by Flavia Krause-Jackson | April 15
Syria Monitoring Mission to Be Voted on by UN Envoys? for Bloomberg News and Business Week by Flavia Krause-Jackson | April 13
UN Security Council facing 'moment of truth' on Syria as Assad ignores withdrawal deadline for National Post, Bangkok Post and Middle East Online by Tim Witcher | April 11
May 2012
The U.N. Mission in Syria: Heading for Heroic Failure? for World Politics Review by Richard Gowan
April 2012
The Options in Syria for Foreign Policy and Now Lebanon by Bruce Jones
March 2012
Kofi Annan and Syria -- the case for deliberate caution for Foreign Policy by Richard Gowan
The U.N. Security Council Comes to Order on Syria Crisis for World Politics Review
Kofi Annan à Damas pour l'opération de la "dernière chance" for Le Monde by Alexandra Geneste (avec Guillaume Perrier à Istanbul)
Kofi Annan's U.N. Mission Is Last-Ditch Push for Diplomacy in Syria for The Daily Beast by Bruce Jones
The Arab Spring Archives| CIC Commentary on Fragile States  
 © Issouf Sanogo/Agence France-Presse Understanding and Responding to the Impact of Organized Crime and Trafficking on Governance in West Africa
On April 18-20 2012, The Center on International Cooperation partnered with the Kofi Annan Foundation, ECOWAS (GIABA) and the Accra-based International Peacekeeping Training Center to host a 3-day workshop on the impact of drug-trafficking and organized crime on governance, development and security in West Africa.
Participants included some 50 representatives from national governments, intergovernmental organizations, the private sector, academia, the media, non-governmental and civil society organizations from West Africa, southern Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and North America.
The Background Paper is available here | The conference report and further analysis are forthcoming
 Recent Press:
Lucrative European market luring Latin drug traffickers to West Africa, in Dallas Morning News for The Dallas Morning News by A. Corchado
Afrique de l'Ouest: transit mais aussi consommation de drogues en hausse for Slate Afrique
This preceding article was also republished in the following sources: Radio Netherlands, Conaky Time, Centra Afrique Presse, C.R.I.D.E.M. (mauritanie), Au fait Maroc, Belgium la libre
L'Afrique n'est plus seulement un acteur passif dans le trafic de drogue. La consommation augmente for Juene Afrique by Par Camille Dubruelh et Mathieu Olivier
Save West Africa from the Drug Barons for The Guardian by Kofi Annan
Beyond the Millennium Development Goals | Agreeing to a Post-2015 Development Framework
April 2012
Debate on the successor to the Millennium Development Goals has now begun in earnest.
The UN Secretary General has made the agreement of new goals a centerpiece of his second term, promising to "forge consensus around a post-2015 sustainable development framework and implement it." In June, Rio +20 will attempt to agree sustainable development goals. And a new High Level Panel will soon begin work on designing a post-2015 development framework.
This paper provides an overview of the MDGs and their expected status in 2015; describes background to, and options for, a post-2015 framework; and discusses the political challenges of agreeing a new framework and sets out considerations for governments and other stakeholders.
Read the full report here by Alex Evans and David Steven
How to establish a zone free of nuclear weapons and other WMDs
April 2012
The consensus decision reached at the 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to convene a conference in 2012 on the establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East (MEWMDFZ) was, perhaps, the most salient outcome of the quinquennium gathering. It is also one of the most challenging undertakings for a number of strategic, technical and political reasons. Despite the bleak odds stacked against the establishment of the MEWMDFZ, there is an argument for engaging in serious discussions about it and carrying out negotiations on it. This paper suggests a number of practical options to prepare for a constructive 2012 conference process.
Read the full paper Preparing for a Constructive 2012 Conference on the Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone edited by W.P.S Sidhu and Bruce Jones with Colette Jaycox
 © El Tirador Solitario Security Council Working Methods and UN Peace Operations: The Case of Chad and the Central African Republic
April 2012
This week, the UN General Assembly is debating a resolution proposing improvements to the Security Council's working methods, including the use of the veto. One important theme of the proposed resolution is the need to improve the ways in which the Security Council mandates, discusses and monitors peace operations. To coincide with this debate, the Center on International Cooperation is publishing a new paper by Alexandra Novosseloff and Richard Gowan entitled Security Council Working Methods and UN Peace Operations: The Case of Chad and the Central African Republic.
This paper - which follows an earlier report on the Council, working methods and peacekeeping in Ethiopia and Eritrea by Teresa Whitfield - looks in detail at the Council's oversight of UN and EU peace operations in Chad and the Central African Republic. The Council's work was often complicated by objections from the Chadian government to the UN's presence on its territory. The Council also struggled to link the UN's role in Chad and CAR with its larger response to the crisis in Darfur, which was part of the same network of conflicts. The paper concludes that alterations to the Council's working methods could have improved it management of the situation, although events on the ground and complex diplomacy away from the Council (especially in the EU) were also decisive.
Security Council Working Methods and UN Peace Operations: The Case of Chad and the Central African Republic
Security Council Working Methods and Peace Operations: The Case of UNMEE
Afterword comparing the lessons from the two reports by Richard Gowan
Development in the Shadow of Violence:
A Knowledge Agenda for Policy
More and more of the world's poor live in places affected by chronic violence and conflict. These changing dynamics have profound implications for the way that development agencies and other international actors approach their work. Development in the Shadow of Violence: A Knowledge Agenda for Policy, by Bruce Jones and Molly Elgin-Cossart is part of a new Center on International Cooperation program, Securing Development.
Read the full report here.
Trajectories of Peace Operations
In a short paper for the Center for International Peace Operations, the German think-tank, Jake Sherman and Richard Gowan argue that as NATO pulls back from Afghanistan and the UN downsizes some missions (including those in Haiti and the Congo) organizations including the AU, Arab League and ASEAN may take more responsibility for new peace operations.
Peace Operations Partnerships | Complex but Necessary Cooperation
The following are papers also published by the Center for International Peace Operations after a joint seminar with CIC on peacekeeping partnerships.
In an op-ed published by World Politics Review, CIC Director Bruce Jones argues that in cases from Haiti to Cote d'Ivoire, UN forces have proved more resilient to major challenges than many commentators had feared. But debates about costs have obscured these successes and may undermine future operations. The oped is available here. Dr. Jones draws on CIC's Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2012.
© UN Photo/ Stuart Price The Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2012 was launched on 28 February 2012. This edition, the seventh in a series, was published by Lynne Rienner and can be ordered at www.rienner.com
Read the Briefing Paper online here in English and Français
Read the Director's Comment and Strategic Summary online here
- Foreword by Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations
- Director's Comment by Bruce D. Jones, Director of the Center on International Cooperation
- Strategic Summary by Jake Sherman and Megan Gleason on key trends in both UN and non-UN missions during 2011
- Thematic Essay by Jake Sherman titled "Peacekeeping and Support for State Sovereignty."
- Map of 2012 Global Peace Operations(click the layers icon
 in top left-corner of the Acrobat window to view missions by type and origin)
All maps in the publication are provided by the United Nations Cartographic Section. For further information, please visit their website at: United Nations Cartographic Section
Visit the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations project page
On Tuesday, February 28th the Center on International Cooperation and the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations hosted the official launch of the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2012 at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations.
View a photo gallery of the event here
On February 19-20, the Mexican government hosted the first ever meeting of the G-20's foreign ministers. In honor of this important development in managing the evolving relations between established and rising powers, scholars and officials from the G-20 nations, including CIC Director Bruce Jones and CIC Senior Fellow WPS Sidhu, were invited to write about the meeting, what it should do, and what it portends for global governance and the management of the changing global order.
Bruce Jones, Senior Fellow and Director, Managing Global Order Project at Brookings, Director, CIC at NYU
Last weekend, the Mexican government hosted a meeting of the G-20's foreign ministers, in Los Cabos. The meeting had been overshadowed by the drama at the UN Security Council, where the US and its allies have clashed with China and especially Russia over violence in Syria. But the Los Cabos meeting helped to constitute a steep change in the governance of global issues.
WPS Sidhu, Senior Fellow, CIC at NYU
Like the G-7/G-8, which began life as a purely economic club of the world's biggest economies, the G-20 too is evolving from an ad-hoc gathering of select nations to fix the world's financial and economic woes into an institution concerned with international peace and security. The first ever meeting of G-20 foreign ministers in Los Cabos, Mexico this past weekend helped to mark this crucial transition.
Shaky Foundations
November 2011
At a time of growing popular demand for representative politics, the protection of rights, and access to justice, this report by CIC's Camino Kavanagh and Dr. Bruce Jones examines the ability of the United Nations to provide 'rule of law' support to member-states and national reformers.
Read the full report Shaky Foundations: An Assessment of the UN's Rule of Law Support Agenda here.
Review of Political Missions 2011
CIC's second Review of Political Missions tracks strategic trends, mission deployments, and deployment data for more than sixty political missions authorized by the UN and regional organizations, including the EU, OSCE, OAS, and the AU. The volume also provides analysis on the extant and potential role of political missions in responding to transnational threats and unconstitutional changes of government.
The full volume is featured here and you may also download the full volume here.
If you would like to know more about the project or order a copy, please contact Alischa Kugel at alischa.kugel @ nyu.edu
 Interactive map(click the layers icon in top-left corner of the Acrobat window to view missions by type and origin)
All maps in the publication are provided by the United Nations Cartographic Section. For further information, please visit : United Nations Cartographic Section
Visit the Review of Political Missions Project Page
Does the Elephant Dance?
Participants gathered on October 20 to celebrate the launch of David Malone's Does the Elephant Dance? Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy. Malone, a NYU adjunct professor of Law, is also the head of the International Development Research Center, and was formerly the high commissioner of Canada in India. Speaking briefly at the event, which was hosted by the Hauser Global Law School Program and CIC, Malone argued for the importance of understanding India's history, geography, and capability in order to understand its foreign policy.
Bruce Jones, CIC Director, praised Malone's work as a masterful piece of statecraft: "It is a very sophisticated and very sensitive treatment, not just of Indian foreign policy, but also of India."
Alex Evans is one of Britain's Top "40 Under 40" International Development Leaders
Alex Evans, Non-Resident Fellow and Head of CIC's Resource Scarcity, Climate Change, and Multilateralism program, has just been named by international development social enterprise Devex as one of Britain's Top "40 Under 40" International Development Leaders. Titled "The Agenda Setter" by Devex, Evans has been a driving force behind international development cooperation on climate change issues in UK aid policy, at the United Nations, and through his work with CIC. Honored among a group of 'trailblazers in international development', Evans has developed CIC's Resource Scarcity, Climate Change, and Multilateralism program into one that has come to play a central role in informing and strengthening the international climate change and development global agenda.
"This award underlines the outstanding work that Alex Evans has been doing on improving development's response to the challenges of sustainability and resilience. I'm proud to have Alex as an essential part of the CIC team."
Bruce Jones, CIC Director
Read the full article on Alex Evans here: Alex Evans: The Agenda Setter
 Devex 40 Under 40 Announcement List
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| Featured Publications |
The World Development Report
More than 1.5 billion people live in countries affected by violent conflict. The World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security and Development examines the changing nature of violence in the 21st century, and underlines the negative impact of repeated cycles of violence on a country or region's development prospects. The risk of major violence is greatest when high levels of stress, political, security or economic, combine with weak and illegitimate institutions. Preventing violence and building peaceful states that respond to the aspirations of their citizens requires strong leadership and concerted national and international efforts. The Report is based on new research, case studies and extensive consultations with leaders and development practitioners throughout the world.
The World Development Report 2011 on Conflict, Security and Development is co-directed by Sarah Cliffe and Nigel Roberts, under the guidance of Justin Lin, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Joachim von Amsberg, Vice President and Head of Network, and a high-level Advisory Council. CIC Director, Bruce Jones, is a member of the core team and served as WDR 2011 Senior External Advisor.
World Development Report 2011 on Conflict, Security and Development
World Bank |Home Page
WDR 2011 Webcast
On Thursday, April 14, 2011 a live webcast of two panel discussions related to the WDR 2011 was presented here. Bruce Jones, delivered the closing remarks along with WDR 2011 co-Director, Nigel Roberts.
Separating the Taliban from al-Qaeda : The Core of Success in Afghanistan
A CIC Study
Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn are researchers and writers based in Kandahar. They have worked in Afghanistan since 2006, focusing on the Taliban insurgency and the history of southern Afghanistan over the past four decades. This paper published by CIC, expands on the following key findings:
- The Taliban and al-Qaeda remain distinct groups with different goals, ideologies, and sources of recruits; there was considerable friction between them before September 11, 2001, and today that friction persists.
- Elements of current U.S. policy in Afghanistan, especially night raids and attempts to fragment the Taliban, are changing the insurgency, inadvertently creating opportunities for al-Qaeda to achieve its objectives and preventing the achievement of core goals of the United States and the international community.
- There is room to engage the Taliban on the issues of renouncing al-Qaeda and providing guarantees against the use of Afghanistan by international terrorists in a way that will achieve core U.S. goals.
Separating the Taliban from al-Qaeda : The Core of Success in Afghanistan | A CIC Study
CIC's Report has received widespread international attention. It has been written about in over sixty media outlets, including:
New York Times
Wired
Guardian UK
Reuters
Alex Strick van Linschoten, one of the authors of CIC's report: Separating the Taliban from al-Qaeda: The Core of Success in Afghanistan, comments on what Bin Laden's death means to the Taliban in a new article for The National.
 Taliban's tepid response to bin Laden's death sparks debate in Afghanistan
tank photo: Edward Carroll
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| Commentary |
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Warnings against SDG 'rush' ahead of Rio+20 Summit
May 2012
The setting of internationally agreed sustainable development goals (SDGs) has emerged as a dominant likely outcome of next month's Rio+20 Summit in Brazil. Read the full article SciDev.Net article here.
Read the full CIC Rio+20 report here by Alex Evans and David Steven
Summit-time blues
May 2012
It's international summitry season. In May, NATO's leaders will gather in Chicago. Some of them will go straight onto a G8 meeting in Camp David. In June, there's the G20 summit in Mexico and a grand United Nations conference on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro. Stand by for a long stream of "family photos" with David, Angela and Barack grinning at the cameras – though Nicolas may be missing.
Read the full E!Sharp op-ed here by Richard Gowan
As Assad Keeps Killing Despite Peace Plan, Looking for the Least Bad Option in Syria
April 2012
Are you OK with where you're at on Syria? I know that I'm not. A senior State Department official told me that Barack Obama's administration isn't either. Almost everyone I've spoken to about Syria in the last few days has thrown up their hands and said, "There's no good solution."
Read the full Jakarta Globe article here by Jim Traub
Joseph Kony and the Power of the Warlord
April 2012
There's a warlord in the news again. With 86 million views and counting, the "Kony 2012" web video and its recently released sequel brought unprecedented attention to Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The videos are part of a campaign orchestrated by the U.S.-based NGO Invisible Children to rally international support for Kony's capture. The major news outlets responded in kind, with ABC, CNN and the New York Times casting Kony as a warlord.
Read the full World Politics Review article here by Keith Stanski
Eastern UNIFIL troops to be put to test
March 2012
Bruce Jones, says less technology will hurt UNIFIL's peacekeeping abilities.
Read the full
Daily Star article here.
Nurturing Democracy in the Arab World
March 2012
A discussion held on 19 March 2012 entitled Nurturing Democracy in the Arab World: How can outsiders help? explored the question of what outside actors—established and emerging powers, NGOs, the UN, investors—can do to promote democratic institution-building and rule of law in the Arab World.
Panelists:
Bruce Jones
Director, Center on International Cooperation, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution
Sarah Cliffe
WDR 2011 Special Representative, Senior Advisor UN Civilian Capacities Team
Shadi Hamid
Director of Research, Brookings Doha Center
Moderator:
Jim Traub
Contributing Writer, Foreign Policy Senior Fellow, CIC
Recent Focus on Cost Obscures U.N. Peacekeeping's Strategic Successes
March 2012
In an op-ed published by World Politics Review, CIC Director Bruce Jones argues that in cases from Haiti to Cote d'Ivoire, UN forces have proved more resilient to major challenges than many commentators had feared. But debates about costs have obscured these successes and may undermine future operations.
Read the full World Politics Review article here by Bruce Jones
G-8 Summit Surprise Move Raises Questions
March 2012
Last June, the Obama administration announced plans to hold the May G-8 (Group of Eight) forum in Chicago. It was the first time an American city, other than Washington, was to host a G-8 summit. CIC Director Bruce Jones comments on the summit's surprise re-location to Camp David.
Read the full The Epoch Times article here by Shar Adams
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| who we work with |
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Global Dashboard was started in 2007 by CIC Fellows Alex Evans and David Steven. The website explores global risks and international affairs, bringing together authors who work on foreign policy in think tanks, government, academia and the media.
Sustainability: a game you can lose, but can't win
9 May 2012
Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals:
- Strengthen American democracy;
- Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans and
- Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.
Humanitarian Outcomes is a team of specialist consultants providing research and policy advice for humanitarian aid agencies and donor governments. The organization was started by CIC non-resident fellow Abby Stoddard and former CIC staff member Adele Harmer along with their three other partners.
State of the Humanitarian System
Read the full AlertNet article An aid system struggling to be ready, stay relevant
James Traub is a fellow at the Center on International Cooperation and a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and author of, most recently, The Freedom Agenda.
"Terms of Engagement," his column for ForeignPolicy.com, runs weekly.
The Accidental Peacemaker
4 May 2012
China now finds itself on the side of peace in a brewing border conflict between Sudan and South Sudan. But is it really committed to stopping its old buddy, Bashir?
Our Man in Baghdad
27 April 2012
Don't look now, but the greatest threat to Middle East stability might just be the "democracy" we created in Iraq.
W.P.S. Sidhu is a Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation. He writes a regular column for LiveMint.com, a leading business newspaper in India.
Learning to preach what they practise
29 April 2012
Some of the leading democracies of the world have often supported authoritarian regimes
BRICS: creating a new world order
1 April 2012
The indications are that BRICS is unlikely to follow the Western model of exclusivity.
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