Diplomacy & Defense Think Tank News

Die Wahrscheinlichkeit steigt, dass die USA den multilateralen Vertrag über den Offenen Himmel (OH) verlassen werden und Russland bald folgen könnte. Damit würde Präsident Trump den Rückzug der USA aus der regelbasierten Sicherheits­ordnung fortsetzen und eine weitere Bresche in die Rüstungskontrollarchitektur schlagen. Deren kontinuierlicher Abbau, ein neuer Rüstungswettlauf sowie die Rück­kehr bewaff­neter Konflikte und von Szenarien nuklearer Kriegsführung gefährden die europäische Sicherheits­ordnung und die strategische Stabilität. Der OH-Vertrag gestattet kooperative Beobachtungsflüge über den Territorien der Vertragsstaaten. Damit lässt sich ein Mindestmaß an militärischer Transparenz und Vertrauensbildung auch in Krisenzeiten bewahren. Dies kann nicht durch nationale Satellitenaufklärung ersetzt werden, zumal sie nur wenigen Staaten zur Verfügung steht. Eigenständige Beobachtungsoptionen sind gerade für Bündnispartner in Spannungsregionen wichtig. Deutsch­land muss sich gemeinsam mit den europäischen Partnern nachdrücklich dafür einsetzen, den OH-Vertrag zu erhalten.

In a new book chapter DIIS-Senior Researcher Stefano Guzzini explores the combination of realist foreign policy doctrine with constructivist theory.

In 2017, the UN launched a system-wide effort to support the implementation of the sustaining peace agenda in Burkina Faso. Since then, a rapidly deteriorating security situation and an imminent humanitarian crisis have forced the UN, the Burkinabe government, and their partners to recalibrate their efforts. This ongoing recalibration, together with the changes resulting from the UN development system reforms, makes this an opportune moment to assess the state of efforts to sustain peace in Burkina Faso.

This paper examines the implementation of the UN’s peacebuilding and sustaining peace framework in Burkina Faso, looking at what has been done and what is still needed. It focuses on the four issue areas highlighted in the secretary-general’s 2018 report on peacebuilding and sustaining peace: operational and policy coherence; leadership at the UN country level; partnerships with local and regional actors; and international support.

Burkina Faso provides lessons for how the UN’s sustaining peace efforts can respond to growing needs without a change in mandate. Continued support for the UN resident coordinator in Burkina Faso is necessary to ensure that these efforts are part of a holistic approach to the crisis, together with local, national, and regional partners. Such support could underpin Burkina Faso’s status as a buffer against spreading insecurity in the Sahel and make the country a model for the implementation of the sustaining peace agenda in conflict-prone settings without UN missions.

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New book on how a rising rightwing in Europe and the US is rewriting the ’lessons’ of the twentieth century

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“The coronavirus pandemic has taught everyone a valuable lesson in globalization: what happens anywhere affects everywhere, and no country is safe until all countries are safe,” said Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey and Co-Chair of the Friends of Mediation Groups in the United Nations, Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). “We must keep multilateralism alive,” he declared.

Mr. Çavuşoğlu was addressing a May 19th virtual event, cosponsored by IPI and the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, titled “How the Coronavirus Pandemic Affects Conflict Dynamics and Mediation: New Challenges to Peace and Security.” Underlining the impact of the pandemic on efforts towards peaceful resolution of conflicts and the importance of collective global action, he said that countries must make international organizations “relevant and credible” in the fight against the virus and its effects. “We must address the plight of vulnerable groups, and we must ensure the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid.”

He warned that terrorist and extremist groups would seek to exploit the current disorder for their own malign purposes. “The enemies of a rules-based order will look for an opportunity to take unilateral steps,” he said. “This is not the time to further weaken the existing mechanisms. Multilateralism should not be another casualty of COVID-19. And it is not strong rhetoric but rather effective cooperative action that will save the day.”

IPI President Terje Rød-Larsen, the event’s moderator, observed that the coronavirus crisis presented obstacles to traditional tools for the maintenance of peace and security including UN peacekeeping, mediation, and peacebuilding.

He signaled “the potential for increased instability as the pandemic disrupts humanitarian aid or exacerbates inequality and political division.”

Pekka Haavisto, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Co-Chair of the Friends of Mediation Groups in the UN and OSCE, said that the current crisis underlined the need for supporting multilateralism and in particular the UN and the World Health Organization (WHO). He argued that while the pandemic posed serious threats to peace processes and transitions to peace now underway, it alternatively could provide “a positive opening for peace processes” and pointed to the example of the conflicted Indonesian province of Aceh, which achieved peace in the aftermath of being devastated by a tsunami in 2004.

The international community ought to be alert to “swiftly supporting” such positive openings, he said, but he also cautioned that some countries were exploiting the situation by locking down their societies with “too harsh conditions on the restrictions” that ended up jeopardizing human rights and challenging democratic values.

Marginalized groups were particularly vulnerable and subject to added stress, and he singled out girls and women as potential targets of such abusive actions. “We know from many peace processes how crucial women and girls are to such processes,” he added. He said that though digital technology was being manipulated by purveyors of disinformation, it also represented a key “peacebuilding tool” and served the purpose of contacting and organizing young people in the service of peacemaking.

Ignazio Cassis, Federal Councillor, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, and Co-Chair of the Friends of Mediation Group in the OSCE, said Switzerland had adopted border control and security measures to combat the virus that, while innovative, were “exceptional to a democracy like ours” and were already being regularized by the parliament which was restoring the necessary checks and balances. “But for Switzerland, one essential element that has not changed with the crisis is that more than ever, we stand ready to support dialogue efforts and peace negotiations and to mediate where we are invited to do so.”

Describing the depth of Switzerland’s involvement, he said that while digital technology was valuable in enabling remote contact with parties in conflict, “peace will always require the physical presence and trust of very real women and men.” He characterized the country’s commitment as “all hands on deck, and that is the call for us all.” To Switzerland, he said, “mediation is about trust, patience, and preparing the grounds for future negotiations.”

Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General, UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, said that the pandemic had “hit conflict settings particularly hard.” Alluding to some of the negative consequences that Secretary-General António Guterres had alerted the Security Council to, she listed an erosion of trust in public institutions over their failure to deal promptly with the crisis, economic fallout that could lead to civil unrest, the postponement of elections, and violent actors exploiting the situation. “And all this at a time when mediation efforts are needed now more than ever.”

She reported that while there had been widespread positive initial responses to the Secretary-General’s March 23rd call for a global ceasefire, “unfortunately they have not translated to concrete change on the ground. Regrettably, the guns are yet to be silenced.” She noted that fighting had continued in places like Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen. In addition, “extremists have urged followers to take advantage of COVID-19 including by spreading disinformation.” She said that the UN “must continue to apply pressure on conflict parties and those outside supporting them politically or with weapons to stop.”

She acknowledged that the crisis had stilled the conventional practice of diplomacy but asserted that UN envoys and missions around the world were exerting themselves to “reignite the political processes to engage in contact with conflict parties and other stakeholders,” often through the use of digital technology. “Now, the path ahead is not easy, but nobody said it would be. To succeed, the international community will have to come together decisively to make sure the early gains, now fading, lead to lasting peace.”

In a question and answer session, the speakers fielded questions on establishing a set of best practices for handling future pandemics, ensuring that the needs of refugees and internally displaced persons were met in pandemic responses, shifting mediation to an online platform, encouraging greater women’s participation in mediation efforts, and trying to prevent the COVID-19 crisis from derailing intra-Afghan talks among warring parties in the current peace negotiations in Afghanistan. The questioners were Priyal Singh, Researcher, Institute for Security Studies (ISS), South Africa; Waleed Al-Hariri, Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, Yemen; Prisca Manyala, President, National Student Association, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Pravina Makan-Lakha, Femwise-Africa, and Aisha Khurram, student, Kabul University and former Afghan Youth Representative to the UN.

Burak Akçapar, Director-General for Foreign Policy, Analysis, and Coordination, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, made welcoming remarks on behalf of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, and IPI President Terje Rød-Larsen moderated the discussion.

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Les nombreux débats autour de l’application de traçage numérique StopCovid ont largement occupé les colonnes de la presse au cours des dernières semaines. Si l’application devrait être disponible début juin, un nouveau dispositif s’est construit en parallèle : celui d’un suivi manuel des personnes contaminées grâce à la mise en place de "brigades sanitaires" armées de deux bases de données : Contact Covid et SI-DEP. Si ces dispositifs poursuivent le même but, à…

Addressing resilience in Danish development policy

Maturing ‘techvelopment’

Wasserstoff ist ein vielfältig einsetzbarer Energieträger, der in Politik und Wirtschaft im Kontext der Energie- und Klimapolitik gesteigertes Interesse geweckt hat. Die Bundesregierung will mit einer eigenen Strategie dessen künftige Verwendung in verschiedenen Wirtschaftsbereichen vorantreiben. Allerdings kann eine deutsche Wasserstoffpolitik nicht getrennt von Entwicklungen auf EU-Ebene und in anderen Mitgliedstaaten konzipiert, sie muss vielmehr europäisch ausgestaltet werden. Da Deutschland heute mehr als 70 Prozent seines Energiebedarfs importiert, hat eine solche energiepolitische Neuausrichtung zwangsläufig eine internationale Dimension. Insofern gilt es, sie entsprechend zu verankern. Die EU und Deutschland sollten bilaterale Partnerschaften und die multilaterale Governance voranbringen, um schritt­weise einen Markt für Wasserstoff zu schaffen.

A webinar on a possible new world order with experts on the USA, China, Russia and the EU

Ce lundi 18 mai, Nicolas Bouzou, économiste au cabinet Astérès, Emmanuel Combe, économiste et professeur à SKEMA Business school et François Escalle, fondateur de FipEco.fr et professeur d’économie à Paris, étaient les invités dans l’émission Les Experts présentée par Nicolas Doze. Les Experts est à voir ou écouter du lundi au vendredi sur BFM Business. […]

The post Les Experts appeared first on Fondapol.

Webinar with Professor Cecilia Menjívar, Department of Sociology (UCLA), who will share her long term research on gendered violence in Central America

Hvad har superhelte, shiamuslimske militser og Donald Trumps valgkampagne til fælles?

Avec un milliard d’euros de bénéfices pour l’exercice clos fin mars et plus de 4 milliards en caisse, la low cost irlandaise est l’une des rares compagnies aériennes à pouvoir survivre à la crise sans compter sur l’aide des Etats. Mais le groupe va néanmoins devoir réduire ses effectifs et sa flotte pour s’adapter à la […]

The post Coronavirus : Ryanair peut passer la crise sans aide d’Etat appeared first on Fondapol.

Coronavirus : et après ? franceinfo ouvre le débat. Un échange à grande échelle pour stimuler et partager des questions, des idées, des témoignages et ouvrir le débat le plus largement possible sur les solutions de demain : #EtAprès, qu’est-ce qui doit changer ? Cette contribution est signée par Christophe de Voogd, qui préside le conseil scientifique et d’évaluation […]

The post #EtAprès. Pour réussir « l’après » : ne pas se tromper sur aujourd’hui appeared first on Fondapol.

La lutte contre l'épidémie de coronavirus, qui frappe les pays sans considération idéologique et sans lien avec leur développement économique, aurait pu être l'occasion de réunir les ennemis d'hier - Chine et États-Unis principalement - dans un combat commun contre la maladie. Il n'en est rien, explique Dominique Moïsi, la guerre contre le coronavirus a même aggravé les tensions entre la Chine et le monde occidental. Et ce n'est sûrement qu'un début.…

L'impact de la COVID-19 sur l'industrie audiovisuelle Les services de streaming répondent à la demande accrue des populations confinées à domicile. Alors que les chaînes de télévision améliorent leurs offres, combinant programmation linéaire et streaming, les services de streaming spécialisés se ...

L'édition 2020 du "Rapport Schuman sur l'Europe, l'état de l'Union", ouvrage de référence pour les décideurs européens, est disponible en version électronique. Avec la contribution des plus hautes personnalités et des meilleurs experts, des cartes originales et des statistiques commentées, il offre une vue complète de l'Union européenne et analyse les défis auxquels l'Europe fait face.

A l'occasion du 70ème anniversaire de la Déclaration Schuman, des dirigeants européens ont envoyé un message vidéo à la Fondation pour exprimer leurs attentes et leurs espoirs pour l'avenir de l'Europe. Retrouvez les messages d'Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, David Sassoli, Christine Lagarde, Michel Barnier, Wolfgang Schäuble et d'autres personnalités sur notre site.

Face à la pandémie de coronavirus, l'Union européenne a déployé les différents moyens à sa disposition et doit désormais organiser le dé-confinement et la reprise des activités sociales et économiques. La Fondation vous propose une synthèse de l'ensemble des mesures prises au niveau national et européen, actualisée régulièrement.