UNU's Activities in and on Africa
Governance & International Justice
Fragility and Development
UNU World Institute on Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
Contact: Mark McGillivray, Wim Naudé
Time frame: 2006–2007
In recent years there is a growing concern within the international donor community regarding the plight of a special group of countries labeled as “Fragile States”. These states, which according to current donor lists currently numbers more than 40 countries, are diverse in many respects. But, compared with other aid-receiving countries, all are thought to use aid poorly and to have lower capacities to absorb aid efficiently due to having especially bad policies, especially weak institutions or both. In addition they are all especially income poor, each belonging to the low-income country group.
Alongside this rather recent concern is a more longstanding one for Small Island and Landlocked (SIL) countries . These countries can also be considered fragile, not necessarily in the way in which donors use that term, but in the sense that they are vulnerable to external shocks. The proposed project looks at aid and related governance issues in the first group of countries and a range of development challenges faced by SILs in the South Pacific and the Caribbean.
A complete list of publications is availble online.
Tags: Africa, governance and international justice, fragile state, development, aid, vulnerability, policies, low-income, Small Island and Landlocked countries
Researching Conflict in Africa: Insights and Experiences
UNU Peace and Governance Programme (UNU-PG)
Contact: Albrecht Schnabel c/o Nicholas Turner
Time frame: 2002–2005
The book Researching Conflict in Africa: Insights and Experiences was published in 2005, based on the results of a Peace and Governance Programme project. It examines the ethical and practical issues of researching within violent and divided societies, providing factual case studies from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa. The authors provide insights about researching conflict in Africa that can only be gained through fieldwork experience.
Tags: Africa, governance and international justice, conflict, ethics, violence, divided, case studies, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa
Humanitarian Diplomacy – Practitioners and their Craft
UNU Peace and Governance Programme (UNU-PG)
Contact: Hazel Smith (University of Warwick, UK) c/o Nicholas Turner
Time frame: 2004–2007
Within the framework of this project, humanitarian professionals shared their insights and experiences from the field, including those in Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Somalia. The book entitled Humanitarian Diplomacy: Practitioners and their Craft was published in 2006. The volume provides a compendium of experiences presented and analyzed by 14 senior humanitarian practitioners who led humanitarian operations in settings as diverse as the Balkans and Nepal, Somalia and East Timor, and across a time frame from the 1970s in Cambodia and 1980s in Lebanon to more recent engagement in Colombia and Iraq. Their unique experiences and insights from the field are framed by context-setting essays on the theory and practice of humanitarian diplomacy and on the ingredients of the craft as practiced by humanitarian professionals.
Tags: Africa, governance and international justice, humanitarian, diplomacy, Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia
After Mass Crime: Rebuilding States and Communities
UNU Peace and Governance Programme (UNU-PG)
Contact: Albrecht Schnabel c/o Nicholas Turner
Time frame: 2003–2006
The Peace and Governance Programme completed the research project After Mass Crime: Rebuilding States and Communities. A book based on the project was published in December 2006, drawing on case studies including Rwanda and Burundi, to examine the impact of mass crimes on individuals, society at large, and the organizations involved in providing assistance in the post-conflict phase.
Tags: Africa, governance and international justice, mass crimes, Rwanda, Burundi, impact, post-conflict
Economic and Legal Tools to Promote Foreign Direct Investment in Zones of Conflict
UNU Peace and Governance Programme (UNU-PG)
Contact: Obijiofor Aginam
Time frame: 2007–2008
In January 2007, the UNU Peace and Governance Programme initiated the project “Economic and Legal Tools to Promote Foreign Direct Investment in Zones of Conflict” in co-operation with UNCTAD. African scholars and experts participated actively in the project, exploring opportunities to improve the investment climate in countries emerging from armed conflict, to regulate trade with natural resources, and to handle existing economic difficulties and legal shortcomings in the conflict and immediate post-conflict periods. A publication is foreseen in 2008.
Tags: Africa, governance and international justice, FDI, economy, promotion, post-conflict
Unintended Consequences of Peacekeeping Operations
UNU Peace and Governance Programme (UNU-PG)
Contact: Chiyuki Aoi (Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo) c/o Nicholas Turner
Time frame: 2006–2007
The UNU Peace and Governance Programme book Unintended Consequences of Peacekeeping Operations was published in May 2007, based on a research project of the same name. The project was conducted with the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), based in Durban, South Africa, with key contributions from African scholars.
Tags: Africa, governance and international justice, peacekeeping, unintended consequences
Atrocities and International Accountability
UNU Peace and Governance Programme (UNU-PG)
Contact: Vesselin Popovski
Time frame: 2004–2007
The UNU Peace and Governance Programme project “Atrocities and International Accountability” resulted in a book, published in June 2007. Bringing together eminent scholars and practitioners with direct experience of some of the most challenging contemporary cases of international justice, the book includes contributions based on the experiences of Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa and West Africa.
Tags: Africa, governance and international justice, atrocities, accountability, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, West Africa
Developing Capacity to Achieve Justice for International Crimes in Africa
UNU Peace and Governance Programme (UNU-PG)
Contact: Vesselin Popovski
Time frame: 2008–2009
The Peace and Governance Programme proceeded with the research project “Developing Capacity to Achieve Justice for International Crimes in Africa”, with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) based in Pretoria, South Africa. The project provides an African forum for dialogue and learning among policy makers, practitioners and experts, building understanding of, and support for, the role of international law and the International Criminal Court in ending impunity, and assisting in building domestic capacity to deal with international crimes.
Tags: Africa, governance and international justice, forum, law, international criminal court, impunity, crimes
Tokyo Peacebuilders Symposium
UNU Peace and Governance Programme (UNU-PG)
Contact: Vesselin Popovski
Time frame: 2008
The UNU Peace and Governance Programme co-organized the “First Tokyo Peacebuilders Symposium: Peacebuilding Experience from Asia to the World” with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, on 24-25 March 2008. A diverse range of peacebuilding practitioners and academics from Asia, Africa and other regions of the world shared their experiences and expertise, promoting effective peacebuilding and peacebuilding-support policies and practices in Japan, Asia, Africa and the global community.
Tags: Africa, governance and international justice, peacebuilding, practitioner, academic, expertise, policy, practice
Peacebuilding and Reconciliation in Conflicted Societies: Partnership for Research and Capacity Building
UNU Peace and Governance Programme (UNU-PG)
Contact: Madako Futamura
Time frame: 2008–2009
The UNU Peace and Governance Programme has proceeded with the project “Peacebuilding in Conflicted Societies: Comparative Experiences and Local Perspectives — A project of networking and dialogue”, looking at sharing South-South expertise and experience of local peacebuilders as well as highlighting the importance of local peacebuilding perspectives in Africa. The project starts with a workshop in Burundi, which may be extended into a second and third workshop in other countries relevant to peacebuilding, such as Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau. The Peacebuilding Support Office in New York is a supporting partner.
Tags: Africa, governance and international justice, capacity development, peacebuilding, network, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau
◊◊◊
Page last modified 2009.11.12.
