Assessing the Shift from Liberal Peacebuilding to Counterterrorism and Stabilization Operations
More militarized UN peacekeeping mandates do not address the root causes of conflict and can contribute to cycles of violence and terrorist recruitment.
More Civilian Casualties, Less Support for Military Action
People care about deaths in war, whether the killing of their own soldiers or the killing of foreign civilians, which affects their support for military action.
Volume 4, Issue 1
In this issue, each of the articles selected either takes a critical approach to its research question or incorporates a careful perspective on the various racial, ethnic, gender, or other identities at play in its analyses. The first article shows that support for military action decreases when civilian causalities increase. The second criticizes the shift from peacebuilding to stabilization and counterterrorism operations. The third reviews women’s informal participation in the peace process in Myanmar, and broader implications from barriers to their formal participation. The fourth suggests a link between women’s participation in government, reduced levels of corruption, and higher levels of peace. The fifth details strategies for leftist civil resistance movements to confront rightwing counter-protests. The results of this critical approach empower us to see beyond our assumptions, to be surprised by the results of our work, and to view events of the world with a dash of skepticism.
Volume 3, Special Issue: Climate Change, Security, and Conflict
We hope the research discussed in this special issue informs a cascade of activism and policy-making to avert the worst eventualities of climate change and to create a world that is more secure and more just for all of us.
Exploring the Relationships Between Climate Change, Migration, and Violent Conflict
When climate change is framed as a security threat, it is often due to assumptions about how changes in the climate will cause mass migration, which will itself precipitate violent conflict.
Rethinking the Climate-Conflict Relationship
In 2016 and 2017, Eastern Africa experienced a drought that most experts believe to be linked to global climate change.
How the Paris Agreement Can Help Us Get to a Low-Carbon Global Economy
The Paris Agreement’s most significant departure from the Kyoto Protocol was the shift from top-down, legally binding emissions targets to bottom-up, voluntary pledges on emission cuts, opening the way for reluctant parties to get on board and for the climate agreement to articulate more ambitious goals.
From Water Scarcity to Conflict or Cooperation
Although it can be a factor that exacerbates conflict, water scarcity in transboundary river basins can also provide incentives and opportunities for greater cooperation between countries.
Considering Links Between Gender, Climate Change, and Conflict
Gender—along with other social identities—positions women and men in particular ways in relation to power and influences both how vulnerable or adaptive they are to environmental change and how they experience violent conflict and its transformation.
Recent Terror Attack in Syria Associated With U.S. Troop Presence
Foreign military presence increases the likelihood of terror attacks, especially suicide bombings like this week’s attack against U.S. troops in Syria.
Volume 3, Issue 6
Inside this issue, we start with an article that addresses the rationale for the existence of the Digest: the growing communication gap between practitioner and academic communities, and how addressing this gap can lead to more informed and useful research. Next, we look at research on Gender Advisors in militaries and their role in the United Nations’ Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. The third analysis gives us a look into a new course that uses podcasts to help teach complex topics on peace and war, and how emerging technologies can be a useful tool in peace education. We then turn to a case study analysis on the 2013/14 “Kerry Initiative” in Palestine and Israel, exploring the important and delicate role of third parties during conflict negotiation processes. The last analysis addresses the European Union’s efforts to incorporate inclusive peacebuilding projects in Georgia and Yemen and highlights the important “Whole-of-Society” approach that works to include marginalized communities into the peacebuilding process.
