CIC works closely with the UN, international financial institutions, bilateral donors and regional organizations to improve international responses in post-conflict contexts. Its research project focuses on the political, economic, and security challenges of building effective states in the aftermath of conflict. In cooperation with the International Peace Institute, we track and assess the performance of the Peacebuilding Commission; identify continued gaps in multilateral performance; and propose options for improved response, in both policy and operational terms.

The project has recently launched the Review of the PBC and is presently conducting a study on gaps in early recovery assistance for the Government of the UK. Additionally to headquarters and donor capitals, the project also provides strategic planning support to field missions in countries recovering from conflict, such as the DR Congo and Timor-Leste.

Given the inherent fragility of post-conflict states, we work in close collaboration with the Reducing State Fragility project, on issues related to building state resilience. Seeking to highlight best practices in external assistance to fragile and post-conflict states, we focus on developing indicators and benchmarks for measuring progress in statebuilding and peacebuilding. We will also assess the role of emerging actors in fragile states as well as support policy development in critical areas of statebuilding such as public administration.

Lead Researchers: Shepard Forman, Barnett Rubin, Bruce Jones, Rahul Chandran
Project Staff: Jake Sherman, Gigja Sorensen

Funders: Government of Norway, Government of the United Kingdom, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

U.N. Peace Operations and State-building:
A Case Study of Haiti

Rapid Deployment of Civilians for Peace Operations: Status, Gaps, and Options

Executive Summary-Recovering from War: Gaps in Early Action

Recovering from War: Gaps in Early Action

The UN and the Prevention of Armed Conflict

Long-Term Peacebuilding in Africa: Challenges for the United Nations
November 2009

From 11-13 November, Dr. Sarjoh Bah, Senior Fellow attended a Symposium on “Sustainable Peacebuilding: Regional Approaches and Pivotal States,” in Colorado. The Symposium was convened by the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and Center for Sustainable Development and International Peace, University of Denver, Colorado. Dr. Bah discussed the "Long-term Peacebuilding in Africa: Challenges for the United Nations." Among other things, he indentified six core challenges facing the UN and other actors as they confront the monumental peacebuilding challenge in Africa. These are:  lack of coordination and coherence; the inability of the UN and others to revamp the economies of post conflict countries; the emergence of new security threats such as drug trafficking and other transnational criminal networks; dealing with transitional justice in an era of internationalized justice; dealing with broader governance issues including security sector reform, public administration and public finance management; and sustaining international commitment in the face of the current global financial and economic crisis. Dr. Bah emphasized that peacebuilding is a political process that should not be approached from a pure technical standpoint, as is the case right now, adding that, nations are built from within not from outside, therefore the principle of ownership should be at the core of peace-building efforts.

Read Peacebuilding Symposium

Peacekeeping in a Strategic Vacuum
October 2009

International Peackeeping has published an expanded version of Dr. A. Sarjoh Bah's paper entitled "The Broader Horn of Africa: Peacekeeping in a Strategic Vacuum". The paper contends that peackeeping efforts in the region are undermined by a strategic vacuum and are further hampered by five interrelated challenges: the lack of political framework; the lack of consent; the issue of protection; the issue of overstretch; and US counter-terrorism policy.

Read "The Broader Horn of Africa: Peacekeeping in a Strategic Vacuum"

U.N. Peace Operations and State-building: A Case Study of Haiti
May 2009

This report on statebuilding and the international community in Haiti from the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University is based on field research led by Dr. Charles T. Call (former Peacebuilding Advisor to DPA, and Senior Fellow at USIP), with support from Gigja Sorensen (Program Officer at CIC).  This report addresses core issues surrounding the UN presence in Haiti, and broader concerns for international efforts in peacebuilding and statebuilding.

Read U.N. Peace Operations and State-building: A Case Study of Haiti

Rapid Deployment of Civilians for Peace Operations:
Status, Gaps, and Options
April 2009

A thematic debate in the UN Security Council identified three primary weaknesses in international performance to support stabilization and early recovery from conflict: a strategic gap, a financing gap and a capacity gap. Rapid Deployment of Civilians for Peace Operations: Status, Gaps, and Options ,a paper published by CIC, takes a detailed look at the issue of rapidly deployable civilian capacity.

Read Rapid Deployment of Civilians for Peace Operations: Status, Gaps, and Options

Recovering from War: Gaps in Early Action
July 2008

Amid growing concern that the international system is ill-equiped to rapidly and effectively mobilize to help states and people recover from conflict, the UK Department for International Development commissioned CIC to identify and analyze  the  ‘gaps’ in early international action in countries emerging from conflict. Both the full report and a newly updated executive summary, including options for reforms, are now available online.

Taking Stock, Looking Forward: A Strategic Review of the Peacebuilding Commission
April 2008

This report, commissioned by the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the United Nations, assesses whether the Peacebuilding Commission is on the right track and makes recommendations to further consolidate its emerging role and enhance its impact.

Special Event: Taking Stock, Looking Forward
May 2008

The PBC report was recently presented at a special lunch event, featuring a panel discussion by Dr. Bruce Jones of CIC; Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations; and Terje Rød -Larsen, President of the International Peace Institute.