We model a rent-seeking contest among two "identity ideologues", differentially located along a uni-dimensional identity continuum, and a "mercenary", who can choose any location in-between. The contest jointly awards an identity-relevant good ("religion") and an identity-irrelevant good...

We model a rent-seeking contest among two 'identity ideologues', differentially located along a uni-dimensional identity continuum, and a 'mercenary', who can choose any location in-between. The contest jointly awards an identity-relevant good ('religion') and an identity-irrelevant good...

This study investigates whether including women in peace negotiations has facilitated lasting peace. We argue that female negotiators and the action of women's civil society groups that advocate for gender-related provisions strengthen peace durability. We contend that genderspecific...

Blair et al. (2023) examine the effect of UN peacekeeping on democratization in conflict-affected countries. They use fixed effects and instrumental variable estimators and find evidence that "UN missions with democracy promotion mandates are strongly positively correlated with the quality of...

There are still a number of UN arms embargoes in place to prevent the flow of arms and military material into conflict zones. Although the UN Security Council is not generally deadlocked on this issue, it has only taken relevant decisions to re-design the embargoes in a few cases over the last...

On January 5, 2024, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar as his Personal Envoy on Cyprus. Her role is to determine the ‘com­mon ground’ from which peace talks can be resumed after standing still since 2017. The shift in Greece-Turkey relations...

Climate change is a priority area in European and broader Western initiatives for global security, with a significant focus on Africa. This paper argues that advancing the climate security agenda in Africa necessitates an approach oriented towards integrating climate adaptation and finance into...

The political debate over implementing qualified majority voting (QMV) into the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is of high political relevance, especially given the shifting geopolitical landscape in Europe, including Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and uncertainties regarding...

The United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) was established at the request of Sudan’s government to assist the country’s political "transition" towards domestic peace and democratic governance. Rather then being able to see its mandate through, the Mission...

Violent conflicts affect the lives and livelihoods of almost one quarter of the world's population. But the effects of violent conflict are not uniform. This study assesses the differential effects of violent conflict on young people's education, job prospects, and forms of civic engagement and...

An economic interpretation of history suggests that war is a continuation of economic rivalry in pursuit of the object of desire in economics – economic rent. For the Middle East, competition for control of its vast oil reserves subjected it to the “natural resource curse” of...

This paper aims to assess the foreign direct investment inflows in Ethiopia despite peace and security challenges in the country with particular emphasis in post 2018 up to 2022.In conducting this study, researcher applied qualitative research method by relying on secondary data. These were...

Trajectories of human conflict have direct and indirect impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem function. These occur across terrestrial, marine and freshwater systems via the well-established drivers of biodiversity loss; land and sea-use change, climate change, overexploitation, pollution and...

This paper studies the role of early intervention in peacekeeping missions as a factor that opens the way for violence downscaling. Using negative binomial regressions and coarsened exact matching models, it is shown that both international and regional deployments contribute to reduce violent...

While much of the literature studies causes and consequences of war, the reverberations of peace have rarely been studied. By focusing on the universe of ceasefire agreements since 1993, we study the causal effect of peace on economic recovery using a regression discontinuity in time approach....

Sudan's two main security forces are fighting each other. A swift military outcome is not to be expected in view of the relatively balanced power between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This strategic stalemate means that the chances for successful mediation...

The causes of violence in Ghana, lie in inequality, exclusion and exploitation brought by both internal and international factors. The emergence of new socio-economic disparities and global trends towards pluralisation and politicisation has brought with it violence which has the tendency to...

Environmental peacebuilding investigates mutually reinforcing relationships between environmental sustainability and peacebuilding. However, environmental peacebuilding research and practice frequently neglect to explicitly take account of power relations and inequities. This is despite other...

Record numbers of violent conflicts are causing growing needs for humanitarian aid, especially in situations of forced displacement. Given the scarcity of resources, many actors seek to provide more effective, efficient and needs-based support. That is also the objective of the humanitarian,...

Non-state armed actors (NSAAs) come in a variety of shapes and sizes, including warlordled groups, insurgencies, militias, and organised-crime syndicates to name just the most prominent examples hereof. In war or lower-level armed conflict, as well as violence-prone contexts, these groups pose...

A considerable body of empirical evidence indicates that conflict affects reproductive behaviour, often resulting in an increased fertility rate due to higher child mortality and limited access to healthcare services. However, we know much less about the effect of peace in a post-conflict...

Direct negotiations on a ceasefire in Russia's war against Ukraine broke down within just a few months. Today, Moscow and Kyiv are pursuing diplomatic initiatives in order to shape the international context of the war in their favour. Russia’s war diplomacy aims to weaken the "collective West"...

This report examines how and to what extent national action plans (NAPs) are a useful tool for fostering local ownership of the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda. Focusing on three case countries, Ethiopia, Kenya and Mali, the report interrogates different actions that can generate...

The energy transition increases the demand for minerals from ethnically diverse, conflict-prone developing countries. We study whether and where mining is possible in such countries without raising the risk of civil conflict. We proceed in three steps: First, we propose a theoretical model to...

The United Nations and the European Union have been working together since 2003 in the areas of peace operations and crisis management. They cooperate in regions such as the Western Balkans, Africa, and the Middle East. As the main representatives of the most important global and regional...

An immediate danger, the danger of nuclear holocaust, can be met with an efficacious solution, a grand design. President Biden, it is suggested, can offer the end of the dollar hegemony, a great desire of President Putin, for an end to the war in Ukraine. This bargain can be constructed out of...