Responses by, and across, the United Nations system to Russian President Putin's invasion of Ukra... more Responses by, and across, the United Nations system to Russian President Putin's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 have varied. In the 'political UN' of its 193 Member States, Russia's veto power left the Security Council unable to act, but the majority of UN Member States voted in early March to condemn the invasion as illegal and contrary to the UN Charter. Approximately 30 states, including China and India, chose to abstain and refused to condemn the invasion; and only five states voted in support of Russia. The Assembly also voted in early April to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council, by a narrower margin of 93 in favor, 24 against and 58 abstentions. This essay looks at the range of responses-political, institutional, humanitarian, and other-from the various components of the UN system to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. How, and how well, did those components respond? How and why did these responses evolve as the invasion and war continued? What does the invasion and those responses tell us-if anythingabout the willingness and the capacity of 'the UN system' to address such a critical issue and its global repercussions?
Typescript prepared by Siméon Rapin. United Nations University World Institute for Development Ec... more Typescript prepared by Siméon Rapin. United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research provides economic analysis and policy advice with the aim of promoting sustainable and equitable development. The Institute began operations in 1985 in Helsinki, Finland, as the first research and training centre of the United Nations University. Today it is a unique blend of think tank, research institute, and UN agency-providing a range of services from policy advice to governments as well as freely available original research. The Institute is funded through income from an endowment fund with additional contributions to its work programme from Finland and Sweden, as well as earmarked contributions for specific projects from a variety of donors.
ABSTRACT Peacebuilding and transitional justice are viewed as integral components of statebuildin... more ABSTRACT Peacebuilding and transitional justice are viewed as integral components of statebuilding in post-conflict spaces. This Special Issue critically evaluates statebuilding and peacebuilding in Iraq through macro and micro-level analyses of Iraq's political development following foreign-imposed regime change. In line with the articles in the Special Issue, this introduction critically examines Iraq's post-2003 trajectory as an outcome of the failure of securitized statebuilding and the absence of legitimacy in externally-imposed democratization. It concludes by highlighting the impact of expedient and exogenous statebuilding on transitional justice and post-conflict peacebuilding.
The Palgrave Handbook of Global Approaches to Peace, 2018
This chapter explores the changing international norms and practices of peacebuilding as an expre... more This chapter explores the changing international norms and practices of peacebuilding as an expression of international intervention in fragile, failed, or postconflict states and societies. It briefly reviews the discussion of norms in the scholarship of IR theory, and then considers peacebuilding at the level of global governance—in the practices of the UN and in the critiques of peacebuilding as a neoliberal statebuilding project. The analysis addresses how these norms and related practices have taken shape at the operational level of peacebuilding, in international policy choices and practices; in particular, the proposal, dissemination and negotiation of the R2P as a new doctrine that (arguably) has become accepted as an international norm.
The t h e s i s begins with a review of the l i t e r a t u r e d e a l i n g with the i n c e n ... more The t h e s i s begins with a review of the l i t e r a t u r e d e a l i n g with the i n c e n t i v e s and d i s i n c e n t i v e s f o r pursuing defence coproduction p o l i c i e s i n Western Europe. P o l i t i c a l , economic and m i l i t a r y aspects are each dealt with i n turn, and thei r r e l a t i v e importance assessed. Following t h i s section i s a case study of the Panavia Multi-Role Combat A i r c r a f t the Tornado* now i n s e r v i c e with the a i r f o r c e s of West Germany, B r i t a i n and I t a l y . The study t r a c e s the progress of the MRCA programme from i t s i n i t i a l conception through to production. The main theme of the case study i s how the concerns of m i l i t a r y o p e r a t i o n a l performance, c o s t s a v i n g b e n e f i t s , and programme e f f i c i e n c y were a l l secondary to government pursuit of wider p o l i t i c a l o b j e c t i v e s . While the general l i t e r a t u r e was found to focuss upon c...
John Conrad Scarce Heard amid the Guns: An Inside Look at Canadian Peacekeeping Toronto: Dundurn,... more John Conrad Scarce Heard amid the Guns: An Inside Look at Canadian Peacekeeping Toronto: Dundurn, 2011. 327 pp. $26.99 (paper) ISBN 978-1-55488-981-5Reviewed by: Alistair D. Edgar, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLieutenant-Colonel John Conrad's second book with Dundurn Press follows up his earlier memoir, What the Thunder Said, an account of his operational experiences in 2006 as a Canadian logistics battalion commander supporting Task Force Orion in Kandahar, Afghanistan. As a day-to-day war diary, What the Thunder Said was a stirring and insightful personal account of the at times desperate Canadian logistics effort. It should be read alongside Task Force Orion Regional Command South commander Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Flope's excellent Dancing with the Dushman (Canadian Defence Academy Press, 2006). Conrad's latest effort, informed by his own service as a peacekeeper in Cambodia and in Bosnia, takes a different turn, and an especially interesting one when read and understood ...
Responses by, and across, the United Nations system to Russian President Putin's invasion of Ukra... more Responses by, and across, the United Nations system to Russian President Putin's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 have varied. In the 'political UN' of its 193 Member States, Russia's veto power left the Security Council unable to act, but the majority of UN Member States voted in early March to condemn the invasion as illegal and contrary to the UN Charter. Approximately 30 states, including China and India, chose to abstain and refused to condemn the invasion; and only five states voted in support of Russia. The Assembly also voted in early April to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council, by a narrower margin of 93 in favor, 24 against and 58 abstentions. This essay looks at the range of responses-political, institutional, humanitarian, and other-from the various components of the UN system to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. How, and how well, did those components respond? How and why did these responses evolve as the invasion and war continued? What does the invasion and those responses tell us-if anythingabout the willingness and the capacity of 'the UN system' to address such a critical issue and its global repercussions?
Typescript prepared by Siméon Rapin. United Nations University World Institute for Development Ec... more Typescript prepared by Siméon Rapin. United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research provides economic analysis and policy advice with the aim of promoting sustainable and equitable development. The Institute began operations in 1985 in Helsinki, Finland, as the first research and training centre of the United Nations University. Today it is a unique blend of think tank, research institute, and UN agency-providing a range of services from policy advice to governments as well as freely available original research. The Institute is funded through income from an endowment fund with additional contributions to its work programme from Finland and Sweden, as well as earmarked contributions for specific projects from a variety of donors.
ABSTRACT Peacebuilding and transitional justice are viewed as integral components of statebuildin... more ABSTRACT Peacebuilding and transitional justice are viewed as integral components of statebuilding in post-conflict spaces. This Special Issue critically evaluates statebuilding and peacebuilding in Iraq through macro and micro-level analyses of Iraq's political development following foreign-imposed regime change. In line with the articles in the Special Issue, this introduction critically examines Iraq's post-2003 trajectory as an outcome of the failure of securitized statebuilding and the absence of legitimacy in externally-imposed democratization. It concludes by highlighting the impact of expedient and exogenous statebuilding on transitional justice and post-conflict peacebuilding.
The Palgrave Handbook of Global Approaches to Peace, 2018
This chapter explores the changing international norms and practices of peacebuilding as an expre... more This chapter explores the changing international norms and practices of peacebuilding as an expression of international intervention in fragile, failed, or postconflict states and societies. It briefly reviews the discussion of norms in the scholarship of IR theory, and then considers peacebuilding at the level of global governance—in the practices of the UN and in the critiques of peacebuilding as a neoliberal statebuilding project. The analysis addresses how these norms and related practices have taken shape at the operational level of peacebuilding, in international policy choices and practices; in particular, the proposal, dissemination and negotiation of the R2P as a new doctrine that (arguably) has become accepted as an international norm.
The t h e s i s begins with a review of the l i t e r a t u r e d e a l i n g with the i n c e n ... more The t h e s i s begins with a review of the l i t e r a t u r e d e a l i n g with the i n c e n t i v e s and d i s i n c e n t i v e s f o r pursuing defence coproduction p o l i c i e s i n Western Europe. P o l i t i c a l , economic and m i l i t a r y aspects are each dealt with i n turn, and thei r r e l a t i v e importance assessed. Following t h i s section i s a case study of the Panavia Multi-Role Combat A i r c r a f t the Tornado* now i n s e r v i c e with the a i r f o r c e s of West Germany, B r i t a i n and I t a l y . The study t r a c e s the progress of the MRCA programme from i t s i n i t i a l conception through to production. The main theme of the case study i s how the concerns of m i l i t a r y o p e r a t i o n a l performance, c o s t s a v i n g b e n e f i t s , and programme e f f i c i e n c y were a l l secondary to government pursuit of wider p o l i t i c a l o b j e c t i v e s . While the general l i t e r a t u r e was found to focuss upon c...
John Conrad Scarce Heard amid the Guns: An Inside Look at Canadian Peacekeeping Toronto: Dundurn,... more John Conrad Scarce Heard amid the Guns: An Inside Look at Canadian Peacekeeping Toronto: Dundurn, 2011. 327 pp. $26.99 (paper) ISBN 978-1-55488-981-5Reviewed by: Alistair D. Edgar, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLieutenant-Colonel John Conrad's second book with Dundurn Press follows up his earlier memoir, What the Thunder Said, an account of his operational experiences in 2006 as a Canadian logistics battalion commander supporting Task Force Orion in Kandahar, Afghanistan. As a day-to-day war diary, What the Thunder Said was a stirring and insightful personal account of the at times desperate Canadian logistics effort. It should be read alongside Task Force Orion Regional Command South commander Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Flope's excellent Dancing with the Dushman (Canadian Defence Academy Press, 2006). Conrad's latest effort, informed by his own service as a peacekeeper in Cambodia and in Bosnia, takes a different turn, and an especially interesting one when read and understood ...
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