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Report
Charles T. Hunt, Fiifi Edu-Afful, Adam Day

UN Peace Operations & Human Rights: A Thematic Study Executive Summary

This study of the Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network (EPON) examines the contributions of the UN’s human rights work within a wide range of UN peace operations, including peacekeeping missions, special political missions (SPMs), and regional prevention offices. The core questions of this study were: (1) How does the UN’s human rights engagement contribute to the overall impact of UN peace operations, including the protection of civilians (POC)? (2) Overall, how do UN peace operations themselves contribute to human rights outcomes? and (3) What lessons can be drawn by comparing different UN peace operations in terms of building better synergies between human rights-focused activities and the other work of missions? The goal of the report is to offer a comparative, empirically backed assessment of the ways UN peace operations efforts to advance human rights contribute to mission effectiveness and broader mission objectives. Lead author Prof. Charles T. Hunt – Senior Fellow, United Nations University Centre for Policy Research/ Senior Research Associate, Institute for Security Studies/Professor of Global Security, RMIT University Co-authors Ms Emma Bapt – United Nations University Centre for Policy Research Dr Adam Day – United Nations University Centre for Policy Research Dr Fiifi Edu-Afful – Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) Ms Abigail Gérard-Baldé – Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) Ms Hafsa Maalim – Independent researcher Ms Wendy MacClinchy – Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) Ms Nadia Nata – Independent researcher Dr Claudia Pfeifer Cruz – Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)

  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Fragile states
  • Human rights
  • United Nations
EPON HR Executive Summary report cover.png
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Fragile states
  • Human rights
  • United Nations
Publications
Publications
Report
Charles T. Hunt, Adam Day, Fiifi Edu-Afful

UN Peace Operations & Human Rights: A Thematic Study

This study of the Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network (EPON) examines the contributions of the UN’s human rights work within a wide range of UN peace operations, including peacekeeping missions, special political missions (SPMs), and regional prevention offices. The core questions of this study were: (1) How does the UN’s human rights engagement contribute to the overall impact of UN peace operations, including the protection of civilians (POC)? (2) Overall, how do UN peace operations themselves contribute to human rights outcomes? and (3) What lessons can be drawn by comparing different UN peace operations in terms of building better synergies between human rights-focused activities and the other work of missions? The goal of the report is to offer a comparative, empirically backed assessment of the ways UN peace operations efforts to advance human rights contribute to mission effectiveness and broader mission objectives. Lead author Prof. Charles T. Hunt – Senior Fellow, United Nations University Centre for Policy Research/ Senior Research Associate, Institute for Security Studies/Professor of Global Security, RMIT University Co-authors Ms Emma Bapt – United Nations University Centre for Policy Research Dr Adam Day – United Nations University Centre for Policy Research Dr Fiifi Edu-Afful – Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) Ms Abigail Gérard-Baldé – Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) Ms Hafsa Maalim – Independent researcher Ms Wendy MacClinchy – Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) Ms Nadia Nata – Independent researcher Dr Claudia Pfeifer Cruz – Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)

  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Human rights
  • United Nations
EPON Human Rights report cover 2.png
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Conflict
  • Human rights
  • United Nations
Publications
Publications
Policy brief

Deterrence and (Re)assurance in the High North – Finland and Norway Compared

- Finland and Norway are both frontline states to Russia with a similar deterrence and defense strategy. - Finland’s geopolitical position as a frontline state is mainly defined by the long land border to Russia. Norway is predominantly a maritime frontline state. - Norway is both a frontline state and a rear area for staging support to military operations in the Nordic Region. - Geography is a factor influencing the different approaches in Finland and Norway to foreign military activity near Russia. Also, proximity to nuclear forces and test areas.

  • Defence
  • Security policy
  • NATO
  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Nordic countries
  • Conflict
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  • Defence
  • Security policy
  • NATO
  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Nordic countries
  • Conflict
Publications
Publications
Scientific article

Russian-speakers in Estonia: A Minority Without Agency

This article explores the conditions of the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia and sees the development of these conditions as a product of an interaction between the nationalizing state, the Russian-speaking minority, the minority’s “kin state”, and the international community; a framework dubbed the “quadratic nexus” by David J. Smith, expanding upon the theories of Rogers Brubaker. This article provides an updated empirical analysis of the impact of the quadratic dynamic in Estonian minority relations, as the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has shifted the balance of power between the agents in Smith’s nexus. The result of this shift is that the conditions of the Russian-speaking minority are now almost entirely decided by the nationalizing state, influenced by Russian aggression. The Russian Federation has made the protection of minority rights in Estonia increasingly difficult by pressuring the Estonian political elite to take an even more conservative stance on nationality policies as a response to the perceived threat from their neighbor in the east, in addition to reinforcing international indifference to minority rights in Estonia. This, combined with the preexisting socio-economic conditions of the Russian-speaking minority has led to the near total loss of the minority’s agency. The article is in Norwegian only.

  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
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  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
Publications
Publications
Report

The Political Economy of Global Climate Action: Where Does the West Go Next After COP28?

This report offers a critical, candid examination of the landscape of global climate action. Current efforts are lacking even amid consecutive UN climate conferences that build upon the successes of the 2015 Paris Agreement. It argues that the incremental progress achieved thus far is insufficient to address the escalating climate crisis. Challenges of domestic political economy and lacking global governance are substantively at fault. We identify several related barriers to effective climate action, including mismatched time horizons, shared public and private responsibility, the complexity of global challenges, and problems of global collective action and burden distribution. The report explores the distributional costs of climate policies, emphasizing the impacts of populism on climate action (and vice versa), and the need for a fair transition. Global governance challenges are attributable to the limits of existing multilateral institutions and the persistently difficult geopolitical and macroeconomic outlook. We conclude by offering a set of specific policy recommendations, spanning corporate taxation, public investment, long-term commitment mechanisms, the climate action-energy security interface, corporate responsibility, and the imperative of a just, equitable, and participatory transition. The proposed strategies can contribute to achieving time-consistent, decisive and systemic action that tackles the urgent climate crisis, building on political incentives and disincentives. This systematic lens – focused on political economy and global governance constraints - needs to be applied to all climate action policies to get ahead of the curve in the global and domestic political environment in which we find ourselves.

  • Foreign policy
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Governance
  • International organizations
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  • Foreign policy
  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Governance
  • International organizations
Publications
Publications

The failure to decarbonize the global energy education system: Carbon lock-in and stranded skill sets

The energy transition involves the transformation of professions and labour markets, which in turn depend on the availability of a workforce with the right education and competence. This study assesses how quickly global higher education is transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy in terms of educational content. The article is based on a review of 18,400 universities and the creation of a dataset of 6,142 universities that provide energy-specific education in 196 countries. The study compares the prevalence of educational programmes oriented towards fossil fuels and renewable energy. The findings show that the rapid adoption of renewable energy worldwide is not matched by changes in higher education, since universities continue to prioritise coal and petroleum studies. In 2019, 546 universities had faculties and/or degrees dedicated to fossil fuels whereas only 247 universities had faculties and/or degrees in renewable energy. As many as 68% of the world’s energy-focused educational degrees were oriented towards fossil fuels, and only 32% focused on renewable energy. This means that universities are failing to meet the growing demand for a clean energy workforce. At the current rate of change, energy-focused university degrees would be 100% dedicated to renewable energy only by the year 2107. Since a career may last 30-40 years, this creates a risk of long-term carbon lock-in and stranded skill sets through (mis)education. The results also indicate that developing countries lag behind developed ones in this area, even though the need for professionals trained in renewable energy is greater in developing countries. Along with lack of capital, underdeveloped regulatory frameworks for renewable energy, and entrenched fossil-fuel business interests, the mismatch between energy education and the needs of the renewable energy industry may hold back the energy transition in many developing countries.

  • Climate
  • Energy
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  • Climate
  • Energy
Publications
Publications
Scientific article
John Karlsrud, Malte Brosig

How Ad Hoc Coalitions Deinstitutionalize International Institutions

As ad hoc coalitions (AHCs) proliferate, particularly on the African continent, two questions crystallize. First, what consequences do they bring about for the existing institutional security landscape? And second, how can the trend of AHCs operating alongside instead of inside regional organizations be captured and explored conceptually? To answer these questions, we closely examine the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) fighting Boko Haram and its changing relationship to the African Union (AU). Through the case study and a review of policy and academic literatures, the article launches the concept of deinstitutionalization and how it can be characterized. We identify three features of deinstitutionalization – AHCs can bypass standard procedures for decision-making processes; whittle down established institutional scripts, and shift resource allocations. We detail how the AHCs contribute to changing practices of financing international peace and security operations, with an examination of EU and UN policies and practices. In sum, the paper unwraps the processes of deinstitutionalization and identifies three forms of rationales for this process – lack of problem-solving capacity, limited adaptability and path dependency.

  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Humanitarian issues
  • Conflict
  • Fragile states
  • Migration
  • Nation-building
  • Insurgencies
  • United Nations
  • AU
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  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • Humanitarian issues
  • Conflict
  • Fragile states
  • Migration
  • Nation-building
  • Insurgencies
  • United Nations
  • AU
Publications
Publications

Militarization of Outer Space: Character and Background - Effects and Limitations?

For several decades now, the militarization of outer space has from time to time been presented and discussed as a new, and increasingly important feature of military development. Sometimes it has been the subject of more scrutinizing attention, and then often also warned against. The attention, and especially the warnings, increased, among other things, in the wake of President Ronald Reagan's initiative in 1983 about the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), often called “Star Wars” in news media coverage. Especially after the turn of the millennium, the militarization of outer space – space – has again been highlighted as a development trend that could come to characterize the future military landscape more strongly than before, especially at the level of great powers. And once again, warnings against this have often been issued. However, even though examples of such militarization are often mentioned in discussions and warnings about the militarization of outer space, the concept itself remains somewhat unclear: What does militarization here encompass, and what falls outside? The ambiguity has less to do with outer space itself, but rather lies in the use of the word militarization itself. Also used in other areas, this is a word that can easily contribute to ambiguity. It is usually used to indicate that something becomes subject to military use or interference and thereby exploited for military purposes. But it is not always easy to see clear boundaries for what can reasonably be called militarization in this respect. For example, is a civil airport with a military presence and activity there to be considered militarized? Or to put the question of reasonableness in this respect even more sharply: can military use, possibly extensive military use, for military purposes of a road network for civilian travel be claimed to constitute a militarization of this?

  • Defence
  • Security policy
  • NATO
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  • Defence
  • Security policy
  • NATO
Publications
Publications
Policy brief

Utenrikspolitikkens mål er å gjøre innenrikspolitikken mulig

This policy brief is in Norwegian only.

  • International economics
  • Economic growth
  • International investments
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Asia
  • Conflict
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  • International economics
  • Economic growth
  • International investments
  • Foreign policy
  • Europe
  • Russia and Eurasia
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Asia
  • Conflict
Publications
Publications
Scientific article

Stories we live by: the rise of Historical IR and the move to concepts

Scholars of the humanities and social sciences are necessarily storytellers. Thus, crafting narratives is an inescapable feature of the practice of International Relations scholarship. We tell stories about the past to orient ourselves in the present and envision the future. Historical International Relations has greatly expanded the repertoire of available narrative elements. However, when we read the past through the prism of our present, we risk closing down opportunities for different ways of imagining both the present and the future. In this article, we acknowledge the advances made in HIR over the last decades but suggest that a closer engagement with conceptual history would enhance its potential even further, making it possible to explore how a wider space of experience can also widen our horizon of expectations.

  • Historical IR
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  • Historical IR
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