French Foreign Policy in a Changing World. Practising Grandeur
This book investigates how modern French foreign policy is practiced. France finds its traditional power status challenged by internal as well as external developments. Internally, it faces societal challenges related to unemployment, integration, social exclusion, Islamist terrorism and the rise of populism. Externally, its status is challenged by global and regional developments – including the financial crises, competition from emerging states, EU enlargement and a more powerful Germany. While the French recognise that they no longer have great-power economic or military power capacities, the conviction of the universal value of French civilization and culture remains strong. As this book argues, for France to be able to punch above its weight in international politics, it must effectively promote the value of ‘French universalism’ and culture. This study investigates how this is reflected in modern French foreign policy by examining foreign policy practices towards selected regions/countries and in relation to external and internal security. Written by a senior researcher specializing in French and EU foreign and security policy, this book will be an invaluable resource for practitioners of foreign policy and students of French politics, international relations and European studies.
Multinational rapid response mechanisms: Past promises and future prospects
Military rapid response mechanisms are generally understood as troops that are on standby, ready to be deployed to a crisis within a short time frame. Yet, the overall track record of the existing multinational rapid response mechanisms within the European Union, the African Union, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization remains disappointing, and the United Nations does not even have a rapidly deployable capacity anymore. Meanwhile, despite that calls for the further development of these mechanisms are still being voiced politically, scholarly literature remains fragmented. This is problematic as many of the obstacles faced by these organizations are similar. This forum uniquely compares experiences from the four aforementioned organizations. Drawing on these insights, this introductory article identifies some key factors that hamper or enable the development and deployment of multinational rapid response mechanisms.
Challenges in deploying effective police to international peace operations
This paper examines the challenges of deploying and using adequately prepared and appropriate skilled police personnel in UN peace operations. It approaches this issue primarily, although not exclusively, through the prism of training. It briefly describes changes in the demand for and role of police in contemporary peace operations, and the existing system of recruitment, selection and training of police peacekeepers. It then considers four types of problems encountered in deploying effective police personnel in the areas of supply of personnel, skillsets, predeployment training, and performance. The paper holds that problems in these interconnected areas undermine the effectiveness and impact of police components in peace operations. While the UN has made some important efforts to improve recruitment and selection of police peacekeepers, and to standardize peacekeeping training of police prior to deployment, both selection and training standards continue to be inconsistently applied and inadequate. Resolving the perpetual problem of getting police peacekeepers with the needed capabilities deployed to missions will require more than simple technical fixes; the human resources challenge for police (as well as military and civilian personnel) in UN operations goes beyond recruitment and training to include questions of effective guidance, management, resourcing, and the monitoring and evaluation of peacekeeper performance to support institutional learning and adjustment of recruitment and training processes. The problem is complex and multifaceted, not least because the UN is an international organization with management challenges that are distinct from those encountered by national public service organizations. The UN’s organizational structures and processes themselves require attention. Solutions call for commitment and corrective action by PCCs, UN HQ, and the leadership of UN field missions. The paper contributes to broader ongoing discussions about what is required to improve the impact and effectiveness of peacekeeping personnel, and of peace operations more broadly.
Norway and the European Economic Area: Good Deal or Just an EU Rule-Taker?
'After more than 20 years in the European Economic Area (EEA), it may look as if this remains the solution for Norway – part of the EU's single market but not an actual EU member state. There is no great political push to change Norway's status for now but there are still debates on the political, economic and institutional pluses and minuses of being on the margins of the EU not at its heart,' author Ole Gunnar Austvik writes in this op-ed.
Knowledge Management and Police Peacekeepers: Experiences and Recommendations.
While over 90 countries contribute police personnel to international peace operations, only a handful systematically interview returned police and attempt to gather insights and information on their mission experiences. This report explores a selection of police-contributing countries (PCCs), examining their mechanisms for deploying police officers to international missions, and then, on return from international missions, for collecting information on their experiences. From this overview, we identify good practices as well as gaps in knowledge generation, and offer some recommendations for improving the collection, management and application of mission-relevant police knowledge. Establishing coherent systems for gathering insights from on-the-ground experiences of police officers deployed to peace operations is valuable for building and sharing awareness of what works and what does not work in international police deployments. Such feedback should be used by PCCs to inform and tailor police pre-deployment training programmes, support mechanisms for deployed officers, and post-deployment reintegration practices. The insights of police officers who have served in peace operations can also be applied to enrich what is known about the complex tasks international police are commonly asked to perform, such as supporting the reform and restructuring of host-state police and law-enforcement institutions, and the challenges of undertaking such tasks in specific mission and country contexts.
Researching the Effectiveness of Peace Operations, Seminar Report, 31 May – 1 June, Oslo
The African Union (AU), European Union (EU), and United Nations (UN) are under increasing pressure to justify the effectiveness of the peace operations they deploy. Justifying this effectiveness requires precise assessments based on systematized and evidence-based data. Per now, however, this data is lacking, a gap the global research community could help address. On 31 May and 1 June 2017, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) hosted a seminar that brought together thirty participants from the AU, UN, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as research institutes and think tanks from across the globe. The aim of the seminar was to share insights on how best to research the effectiveness of peace operations and to explore the establishment of a network that could seek to address this gap. The seminar discussed how to research and measure the effectiveness of peace operations. It looked at current definitions and conceptualizations of effectiveness, and it discussed the varying perceptions stakeholders have of the effectiveness of peace operations. The group also explored the options for establishing a network dedicated to research on the effectiveness of peace operations. The seminar agreed on the value of establishing such a network, with an aim to produce knowledge that is both academically valuable and relevant for policymakers. Hence, it considered different organizational modalities for a potential research network, with regards to governing principles, funding, and how researchers could undertake joint research projects. This report summarizes the key conclusions and recommendations from the seminar, and lists what the next steps may be for the establishment of a research network on the effectiveness of peace operations.