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Global Peace Operations

CIC's Global Peace Operations program has been a leading source of reliable data and policy analysis of the major trends affecting UN and regional organizations' response to conflict and crisis. Its independent analysis of the role and effect of peacekeeping and political operations has had a significant impact on both policy and political support for those missions at a time of growing uncertainty.

After a decade of continuous expansion, historic levels of demand and increasing operational complexity pose risks to the viability of peace operations. Setbacks in high-profile missions have coincided with military overstretch and growing fiscal austerity, while missions that have achieved interim stability lack a clear transition strategy towards sustainable peacebuilding and development. Peacekeeping has also had to confront significant political strains between the UN Security Council and other key actors, especially due to the limited participation of troop, police, and financial contributors in the decision-making architecture.

At the same time, the evolving use of a range of alternative models of peace operations, including the hugely expanded use of special political missions, is both creating new options and adding complexity to policy debates. At the UN and elsewhere, new questions about the relative merits of traditional peacekeeping versus lighter options create an ongoing demand for policy-relevant research.

The Global Peace Operations program aims to provide analysis on these issues and to improve conceptual and operational linkages across political missions, peacekeeping operations, and peacebuilding.

Research Overview

The program's flagship research project is the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations, the most comprehensive report of its kind, informing policy-makers, the media, academics, and peacekeepers on strategic trends, mission developments, and deployment data for both UN and non-UN peace operations. The 2011 volume—the series' sixth—focuses on managing transitions: both from peacekeeping to peacebuilding, and in the face of diminishing national consent.

Through its new Review of Political Missions, the first publication of its kind, CIC is bringing the same critical analysis that it has brought to bear on existing peace operations to civilian missions. This volume maps the impact that peacebuilding and larger political missions are beginning to have on conceptual and institutional boundaries in UN peace operations.

Lead Researcher: Jake Sherman

Project Staff: Alischa Kugel, Morgan Hughes, Megan Gleason

Funders: Governments of Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States Insitute of Peace, The Compton Foundation, Open Society Institute.

Archived Programs:


Addressing Challenges Related to Force Generation for Helicopter Units in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations

The United States Mission to the United Nations and the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University held a two-day workshop on 27-28 April 2011 at the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel to address force generation challenges related to rotary wing assets for UN peacekeeping operations.

Speakers included:

Ambassador David Dunn
Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs U.S. Mission to the United Nations

Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur
Assistant Chief of the Air Staff Operations (Transport & Helicopter) Indian Air Force

Mr. Tony Banbury
Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support United Nations Department of Field Support

Brigadier General Jean Baillaud
Chief of Staff, Office of Military Affairs United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations

Mr. Jake Sherman
Deputy Director of Programs (Conflict) Center on International Cooperation at NYU

The discussion sessions were chaired by Mr. Michael Smith, Global Peace Operations Institute (GPOI) Program Director, U.S. Department of State.


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Recent Publications
Title Source Author Date
Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2011 CIC CIC February 2011
Review of Political Missions CIC CIC November 2010
Beyond Heavy Peacekeeping: Alternative Mission Models for Building the Rule of Law CIC, Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) and the German Foreign Office   June 2010
Robust Peacekeeping: Principles and Practical Guidelines CIC, French Ministry of Defence (Policy and Strategic Affairs), Research Network on Peacekeeping Operations (ROP) of the University of Montreal Sarjoh Bah April 2010

Dilemmas of Regional Peacemaking: The Dynamics of the AU's Response to Darfur

Presentation at joint CIC/IPI forum

CIC Sarjoh Bah February 2010
Interviews & Events
Title Source Panel Date
World Focus Obama and the World: Africa World Focus Emira Woods, A. Sarjoh Bah and Martin Savidge January 2010
Bah - RFI Interview Sarjoh Bah speaks on developments in Guinea Radio France International Sarjoh Bah November 2009
video Somalia, The Birthplace of Terrorism World Focus Sarjoh Bah and Martin Savidge August 2009

Archived Publications |2004 | 2005 |2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |


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Media & Events

Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2011

On 27 June 2011, the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP) hosted a book launch of the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations, released by the Center on International Cooperation (New York University).

Mr Jake Sherman, Deputy Director for Programs (Conflict) and Contributing Editor of the Annual Review, and Mr Andrew Sinclair, Program Officer, Global Peace Operations, and lead researcher and volume editor, presented the main findings of the book.

Mr Alan Doss, Visiting Fellow at the GCSP and former SRSG in the DRC and in Liberia, also offered remarks on the 2011 Annual Review. The event was chaired by Dr Thierry Tardy, GCSP Faculty Member.

GCSP Geneva Centre for Security Policy


On Thursday June 23, the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) and the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) hosted a launch:

Peacekeeping's Transitional Moment
Presentation & Discussion of The Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2011

Thursday June 23, 2011, 18:00 – 19:30
ESMT European School of Management and Technology
Schlossplatz 1 | 10178 Berlin (Staatsratsgebäude)

Panelists

Carlos Lopes
Director of the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC)
Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)

Ian Johnstone
Professor of International Law, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

Jake Sherman
Deputy Director for Programs, Center on International Cooperation, New York University

Almut Wieland-Karimi
Director, Center for International Peace Operations


The Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2011 was launched for the African Union on 14 April 2011 at the Goethe-Institut in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. More than eighty officials, academics, and practitioners attended the event, which was held in partnership with the German Embassy to Ethiopia.

Speakers included:

Colin Stewart, Chief of Staff and Deputy head of UNOAU (United Nations Office to the African Union)

Michael Biontino, Deputy Head of Mission and Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to Ethiopia

Dr. Admore Mupoki Kambudzi, Secretary to the AU Peace and Security Council

Jake Sherman, Deputy Director of Programs (Conflict) for the Center on International Cooperation at NYU

Annual Review - Africa Launch View an image gallery of the Launch for the African Union

GPO 2011 Recent Press:
All Africa


On Tuesday February 22nd 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 2011

at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations

Speakers for the event included:

H. E. Ambassador Miguel Berger
Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations

Susana Malcorra
Under-Secretary-General of the Department of Field Support

Jake Sherman
Deputy Director for Programs (Conflict), Center on International Cooperation

The UN and NATO: Forward from the Joint Declaration
May 2011

This volume results from a high-level research symposium that was organized on 21 October 2010 by the NATO Defense College, New York University's Center on International Cooperation, and the Turkish delegation to the United Nations (UN). The event was an opportunity for policymakers and researchers to bring together their insights on the achievements and the prospects of UN-NATO cooperation, more than two years after the signing of a Joint Declaration by the Secretaries-General of the UN and NATO on 23 September 2008.

The UN and NATO: Forward from the Joint Declaration

NATO and UN: steps towards greater practical collaboration

On 21st October 2010, NATO representatives and UN officials discussed the evolving relationship between the two organizations including the way to foster greater cooperation in the operational field.

The International Research Symposium, organized by NATO Defense College Research Division and New York University's Center on International Cooperation with the support of the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations, will analyze steps taken since the signing of UN-NATO Joint Declaration of 2008 and in the light of the current military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and elsewhere.

Military, diplomatic, and academic worlds will share their perspectives on the aspirations and expectations for the UN-NATO relationship, identifying the opportunities for practical collaboration at strategic, operational, and tactical levels.

Panelists included:

H.E. Mr. Ertugrul APAKAN, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations;

General Stephane ABRIAL, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation;

Lieutenant General Wolf-Dieter LOESER, Commandant of NATO Defense College;

Prof. Lawrence S. KAPLAN, Professorial Lecturer in History, Georgetown University and Emeritus Director, Lemnitzer Center for NATO Studies, Kent State University.

Turkish gallery Click a photo to view gallery

Turkish Mission Turksish Mission Turksish Mission Turksish Mission

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