‘Preventing Crises, Resolving Conflicts, Building Peace’ are key challenges for Germany’s and Europe’s evolving international role. Berlin is investing in the field, both financially and conceptually. On this blog, we discuss how to target these investments towards better crisis prevention, conflict management and peacebuilding. Most contributions are in German, but we occasionally ask international experts for their views. This section collects contributions in English. You are warmly invited to join the discussion: Subscribe to our weekly email-updates (in German), share and comment on posts on social media (@PeaceLabBlog, #PeaceLab), read our summary of the preceding “PeaceLab2016” debate or send us an email at peacelab@gppi.net.
Artikel Global Peace Needs an Updated UN Charter The worldwide increase in armed intra-state conflicts will make it necessary to expand the mandate of the UN Charter. Although this would be the first substantive revision of the UN Charter since its adoption almost 75 years ago, this may be less utopian than it seems. In fact, Germany is well placed to take the lead revitalizing the UN as the core collective security instrument for maintaining global peace. Michael von der Schulenburg • 11. September 2018
Artikel Make Security Council Diplomacy Great Again The dynamics of the UN Security Council have drastically changed over the past years, fragmenting the Council, but also empowering influential non-permanent members such as Germany. Berlin should seize this as an opportunity in building on a successful Franco-German cooperation record. However, the Security Council seat is not a tool for European integration but for building and securing peace. Manuel Lafont Rapnouil • 29. August 2018
Artikel Conflict Management: Go Big or Go Home If Germany wants to address current conflicts around the world, half-hearted efforts will not do. After all, effective crisis management requires both civilian and military means. Germany should therefore increase its budget for diplomacy, defence and development assistance to three percent of its gross domestic product and transform the Federal Security Council into a comprehensive coordinating body for foreign and security policy. Wolfgang Ischinger • 31. Juli 2018
Artikel A New German SSR Strategy: The View from New York In developing its new SSR strategy, the German government could emphasize (1) security sector governance initiatives that demonstrably respond to people’s security needs; (2) making immediate security efforts coherent with long-term security governance strategies; (3) coordination of international assistance and (4) sustained funding and operational support. Alexandre Zouev • 31. Juli 2018
Artikel The Importance of Non-Core Actors in SSR The German government should work with a broad and inclusive definition of SSR/G that encompasses both “core-” and “non-core actors” and places SSR programs in the context of broader political and institutional development. To guide its activities, the German government should employ a “theory of change” and oblige implementing agencies of German public funds to take a multi-stakeholder approach to SSR interventions. Stefan Buchmayer, Maxime Poulin • 23. Juli 2018
Artikel Security Assistance and Reform: Bringing the Politics Back In Whether the goal is “just” to professionalize or “even” to reform security institutions, security assistance and security sector reform are both about the allocation of power over the instruments of violence. External supporters can only succeed if they can integrate their projects into a broader strategy for political engagement with partner countries. Philipp Rotmann • 20. Juli 2018
Artikel Integrating Preventive Stress Management into SSR Processes For soldiers to be able to limit their own potential for violence to the necessary level when under extreme strain, psychological stability and, to use the Bundeswehr’s term, "mental fitness" are indispensable. Thus, the Federal Government’s SSR strategy should incorporate capacity building for preventive stress management. Ulrike Schmid • 17. Juli 2018
Artikel Peace First at the Horseshoe Table Germany brings diplomatic weight to the UN Security Council, to which it was elected on 8th June. The German government should use this advantage to support mediation and peace processes as priorities of its two-year membership. It should focus on three central instruments in this regard: refining sanctions, accountability of troop contributing countries, as well as the organization of more flexible visiting missions by Security Council diplomats. Gerrit Kurtz • 09. Juli 2018
Artikel Link the SSR Process to Transitional Justice The Central African Republic’s security sector not only suffers from an acute shortage of manpower and capacity but also from internal disputes over loyalties. To deal with these dynamics, Germany’s new SSR strategy should identify and address political and economic interests of local actors threatened by the reform process. Also, it should entail instruments to fight against abuses committed by security forces. Niagalé Bagayoko, Elom Khaunbiow • 05. Juli 2018
Artikel Iran, Syria, Ukraine: Berlin Should Take a Leadership Role Germany should use its time on the UN Security Council to address some of the world’s most pressing crises. This includes acting as a mediator on the Iran deal as well as leading negotiations on reconstruction in Syria and on a possible UN mission in Ukraine. Taking on such initiatives is risky. But nobody said that holding a seat on the Council in the current political climate was going to be easy. Richard Gowan • 26. Juni 2018
Artikel Between War and Peace: Capacity Building and Inclusive Security in the Grey Zone Case studies from the Somali context demonstrate that merely building capacity of the defense sector without democratic accountability does not lead to locally credible and legitimate governance and security institutions. The German government should put the principles of accountability, rule of law and human rights back at the center of its new SSR strategy. Louise Wiuff Moe • 30. Mai 2018
Artikel No Easy Way Out: Three Trade-offs the German SSR Strategy Needs to Address It is time to go beyond the rhetoric of governance and ownership. A good SSR policy lays out how SSR initiatives can achieve a balance between short-term security- and long-term governance improvements; between operational work and political strategy; and between achieving results and working adaptively. Erwin van Veen • 30. April 2018
Veranstaltungsbericht How Stabilization Worked in Iraq, and What the UN Can Learn from it On 18 April 2018, the German Mission to the United Nations in New York hosted a roundtable on success factors of stabilization in Iraq and its lessons for the international community. At the UN, stabilization remains a contentious issue that sparked a lot of interest in the speaker’s conclusions: it’s all about political strategy, international coherence, local leadership and flexibility in deploying funds. PeaceLab editorial team • 20. April 2018
Artikel PeaceLab2016: A Fresh Look at Crisis Prevention "We need your critical questions, your experience, your ideas, and your suggestions. We should talk openly about what we are already doing well, and how we can become even better and more efficient." (Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the PeaceLab2016 kick-off conference, 5 July 2016) PeaceLab2016 editorial team • 26. Juli 2017
Artikel Managing Conflict, Building Peace: Opportunities for Europe and India Crisis management, stabilization and peacebuilding have a huge role to play in boosting greater cooperation between Europe and India in their overlapping neighborhoods. Trainings and joint civil-military missions, including UN missions, offer an opportunity to build practical joint experience. As a key EU member state, Germany should push for increased dialogue and collaboration between India and the EU. Garima Mohan • 13. Juni 2017
Artikel Mission Impossible? Lessons from UN Peacekeeping in South Sudan The UN Mission in South Sudan faces daunting challenges, especially with regard to the protection of civilians. Despite its efforts, the mission cannot solve the conflict alone. Regional and international actors must step up and act more decisively. Germany can help by pushing for the immediate establishment of the planned hybrid court for atrocities. It can also encourage a frank debate about the limits of the protection of civilians and motivate other countries to increase humanitarian aid. Elisa D. Lux • 08. Juni 2017
Artikel Moving from Peacekeeping to Prevention at the UN: Opportunities for Europe The UNs new Secretary-General Guterres is keen on pushing his prevention agenda forward, making the UN more agile and cheaper. As a result, the UN is slowly handing over security responsibilities to African actors on the continent. This shift opens up opportunities for European players to revitalize and expand their approach to crisis management. Germany is a potential lynchpin for efforts to pool European resources. Richard Gowan • 11. Mai 2017
Artikel Development as an Ecosystem: How Aid Programs Can Stimulate Change Socio-political change processes are complex, disruptive, and unpredictable. For this reason, donors such as Germany should initiate more adaptive aid programs. Such programs have broad objectives, flexible resources, and are able to learn. This means moving away from only reporting tangible results at the output level, starting to hold programs accountable for their capacity to adjust, and sustaining long-term partnerships between funders and implementers. Erwin van Veen • 09. Mai 2017
Artikel Will 2017 Be a Watershed Year for Prevention at the Service of Peace? Effective prevention requires an understanding of peace beyond the mere absence of violent conflict. Therefore, the United Nations should view prevention as a governance tool rather than a crisis management tool. Further, the UN should combine the breadth of recent reform agendas into a single strategic, inclusive vision. Youssef Mahmoud • 13. April 2017
Artikel To Prevent another Syria, the World Needs German Leadership The consequences of the international communitys failure to effectively respond to atrocities in Syria were catastrophic. In learning from our collective failure and establishing atrocity prevention as a top foreign policy priority, no European country is more important than Germany. Political leadership is key, and the new guidelines are the best place to start. Tod Lindberg • 29. März 2017
Artikel Without Democracy, No Human Rights and No Peace Germanys new guidelines for managing crises and conflicts should lay the ground for human rights promotion that is more courageous, political and ready for new risks. Despite old and new challenges, democracy assistance remains an important component of sustainable peacebuilding. Katrin Kinzelbach • 25. Januar 2017
