News 

"Special Focus" on Upheaval and Reform in the MENA Region

The GCSP is providing the international community with analysis and insight on the evolving situation in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. Accessible via our website you will find Policy Papers, podcasts, Web-Editorials, summaries of recent GCSP events and links to commentaries by our experts in the media on the crisis. Frequent updates are also available via Facebook and Twitter.

A selection of recent pieces include:

GCSP Policy Papers n°12: The Great Arab Revolution: Challenges, Dilemmas and Opportunities? by Dr Graeme P. Herd and n°11: The Arab Revolt: Roots and Perspectives, by Vicken Cheterian.

Web-Editorials: "Military Action against Libya: Striking the Balance between Decisive Action and 'Mission Creep'"? by Professor Steven Haines and "Tunisia, Egypt and Libya: Regime Change and New Strategic Calculus?" by Dr Graeme P. Herd.

Summary of a Public Discussion on "An Arab Spring: Revolution and Revolt in North Africa?" with analysis by Professor George Joffé, Dr Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou and Dr Yahia H. Zoubir.

Research Activities

The GCSP has undertaken to develop its research activities in support of its training primary function. Through publications and the promotion of research within its Faculty, the GCSP intends to take an active part in the broader policy debate.

In the framework of the Geneva Papers series founded in 2008, a Research series was launched in 2011 to host policy-relevant papers dealing with an international peace and security issue of high importance (the first issue was Graeme P. Herd, The Global Puzzle: Order in an age of primacy, power-shifts and interdependence, 2011). In parallel, shorter Policy Papers are now released every month to cover current and new security issues (see the Publications section below).

With these efforts, the GCSP draws on its expertise (Faculty, Associate and Visiting Fellows and course participants) to create synergies between training, research and dialogue, in order to make it an ever more central actor of the international security policy architecture.

Training

Upcoming Courses

16 April - 29 June 2011: The GCSP will run its  12th New Issues in Security Course (NISC), see Highlight above. For more information about the course, please click here. 

15 - 21 April 2011:  The GCSP will run Expert Training Modules on Demography, Global Public Health, Food Security and Climate Change open to the public (subjects can be taken individually or as a group). For further information about the NISC Modules and to register, please click here.

26 - 29 April 2011:  The GCSP will run Expert Training Modules on International Migration, Organised Crime and Cybersecurity open to the public. For further information about the NISC Modules and to register, please click here.

2 - 20 May 2011:  The Shifting Geopolitics of the Multilateral System: Actors, Strategies, Policies: For the sixth consecutive year, the GCSP and the Graduate Institute organise their annual three-week course on multilateralism in Geneva. The course provides the participants with strong practical skills and a comprehensive understanding of contemporary multilateralism, and is designed for diplomats and other governmental officials. For further information about the course and to register, please click here.

4 - 6 May 2011: The GCSP will conduct a two-day Course on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Global Security, which aims at assessing the impacts of trends in AI on key areas of Global Security. For further information about the course and to register, please click here.

26 - 27 May 2011:  The GCSP will run the Expert Training Modules on the Role of Nationalism in Contemporary International Politics; New Frontiers in Intelligence; and Meeting the Cybersecurity Challenge, which open to the public. For further information about the NISC Modules and to register, please click here.

11 - 14 July 2011: The GCSP Summer Workshop entitled "The EU in the World: Towards Global Partnerships in Peace Operations" is targeted to PhD candidates and post-doctoral fellows working on EU security policy, with a focus on inter-institutional cooperation in the broad field of crisis management. The workshop will provide a platform for scholarly exchange, by giving participants an opportunity to present and get feedback on their current research. It will also consist of a series of presentations made by participants on the workshop's theme, and includes guest speaker lectures. For further information about the workshop and to register, please click here.

Past Courses

27 February - 3 March 2011:The GCSP ran its Expert Training Modules on Arms Control and Disarmament, gathering 17 external participants as well as the GCSP long-term course participants. These modules were led by major figures that combine practitioner expertise with academic distinction, and covered such subjects as Global and European Multilateral Arms Control, Humanitarian Arms Control, Arms Transfers, Defence Industries and Agencies, and Nuclear Arms Control and Disarmament.

27 February - 3 March 2011: 7th Annual Defence Attaché Orientation Module. 45 participants from 27 countries, including countries from Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, North Africa, Nigeria, Singapore and the USA attended the course. Dr Peter Foot, the former Academic Dean of the GCSP opened the course, and Colonel (GS) Ernst Bucher, Head of the Civil-Military Relations Programme, directed it.

Events

Upcoming Events   

6 April 2011: Jointly with the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), and with the support of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the GCSP will host a workshop on "Reinforcing Disarmament: Combating Illicit Trade in Weapons and Materials - Regional Challenges". It will focus on possible synergies among the various stakeholders (governments, academia, international organizations, civil society, law enforcement agencies) in efforts to strengthen or develop effective regimes for preventing or stopping the proliferation of arms, be it conventional armaments or weapons of mass destruction. For further information, please contact Ms Isabelle Gillet (i.gillet@gcsp.ch).

Past Events

9 March 2011: The GCSP organised a Public Discussion on "An Arab Spring: Revolution and Revolt in North Africa?" to address unprecedented changes in the region and assess their strategic effects. The speakers included Professor George Joffé, Independent Consultant at the Centre for International Studies, Cambridge University; Dr Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, GCSP Associate Fellow, and Visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Geneva, and Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritania; Dr Yahia H. Zoubir, Professor of International Relations & International Management, Euromed Marseille Ecole de Management. For more information and to download the podcast, please click here.

11 March 2011: GCSP - Egmont Institute - IRSEM Working Group Meeting: "Europe Deploys - Towards a Civil-Military Strategy for CSDP" was the second meeting of an international working group of practitioners and academics, and gathered eight participants. The working group is in the process of authoring a policy paper on the need for a strategy for the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The paper will highlight priority regions for the EU and issues on which such a strategy should focus--examining the implications of those recommendations for the tasks, capabilities, and procedures of CSDP. For more information on the project, please contact Dr Gustav Lindstrom (g.lindstrom@gcsp.ch)

18 March 2011: GPP Public Discussion: "Towards Capable and Responsive States: Supporting Statebuilding in Situations of Conflict and Fragility" took place at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP). It focused on the OECD DAC Guidance on Statebuilding that provides new thinking on statebuilding, clear recommendations for better practice, and an internationally accepted conceptual framework for statebuilding. Click here for more information.  

22 March 2011: The GCSP organised a Public Discussion on "Managing a 21st Century Security Agenda: US Foreign Policy beyond Iraq and Afghanistan" to review the current state of US foreign policy in pursuit of global peace and security and evaluate challenges, old and new, that inform the evolution of US policy into the 21st century. The keynote speaker was Ambassador Christopher Hill, Dean, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, and Former US Ambassador to Iraq. For  more information and to download the podcast, please click here.

Research and Publications 

New Publications

The GCSP is proud to announce the publication of the following Policy Papers on the revolutions in the Arab world:

Policy Paper n°12: The Great Arab Revolution: Challenges, Dilemmas and Opportunities? by Graeme P. Herd

 Policy Paper n°11: The Arab Revolt: Roots and Perspectives by Vicken Cheterian

These publications, and all Policy Papers and Geneva Papers, are available for download on the GCSP website. If you would like a hardcopy of a Geneva Paper, please contact us at external-relations@gcsp.ch.  

Associate Fellows

Associate Fellow Profile

Dr Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou is Associate Fellow at the GCSP and Visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva in the departments of International History and Politics and Development. Dr Mohamedou was previously the Associate Director of the Harvard University Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research in Boston, and earlier Director of Research of the International Council on Human Rights Policy, and served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mauritania in 2008-2009.

His published works include Understanding Al Qaeda: The Transformation of War (Pluto, 2008, expanded edition 2011), Contre-Croisade: Origines et Consequences du 11 Septembre (L'Harmattan, 2004, revised edition 2011), and Iraq and the Second Gulf War: State-Building and Regime Security (Austin and Winfeld, 1998, second edition 2002). He is completing a new book, The Archeology of Submission, on neo-authoritarian incursions in the civilian world and the novel forms of globalization.

Dr Mohamedou contributed chapters to several edited volumes, notably Violent Non-State Actors in Contemporary World Politics (Columbia University Press, 2010), Rethinking the Foreign Policies of the Global South - Seeking Conceptual Frameworks (Lynne Reinner, 2003), and Governance, and Democratization in the Middle East (Avebury Press, 1998); and authored a number of monographs and essays on democracy, foreign policy, terrorism, law, and conflict analysis.

Dr Mohamedou is a frequent lecturer in his fields of interest (transnational terrorism, political violence, the transformation of warfare, transitions to democracy, and Middle Eastern and North African sociopolitical developments), and has contributed to The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, Libération, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, Voice of America, France 2, France 3, Radio-Television Suisse Romande, Deutsche Welle, and ABC News.

Testimonial
"I am delighted to be at the GCSP. Over the past years, whether at Harvard or in office, I've enjoyed a rich relationship of fruitful collaboration with the Centre and have had the pleasure of seeing it grow into a successful and influential international think-tank with a dedicated and dynamic staff. The work that we are doing these days with the colleagues, in the midst of fast-paced international developments, is, I believe, precisely what is needed to provide policy-making with practical options, sharpen the skills of professionals, and beam intelligent research to the world. I am convinced more success awaits GCSP in the next phases and that is all I wish it". 

- Mahmoud Mohamedou

Alumni

Jarmo Sareva

Deputy Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and

Director, Office for Disarmament Affairs, Geneva Branch

Mr Jarmo Sareva is the Deputy Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Director of the Geneva Branch of the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs since September 2009. He brings to this post a wealth of experience from UN and disarmament affairs, having previously served from 2006 to 2009 as Chief of the Disarmament and Peace Affairs Branch at the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management at the UN Secretariat in New York. Prior to that he was Ambassador and Deputy Permanent  Representative of Finland to the UN in New York, during which time he was also elected, in 2003, Chairman of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the UN General Assembly.

Mr Sareva served as Special Assistant to the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) from 2001 to 2002. Before that, from 2000 to 2001, he was Chef de Cabinet of the Office of the President of the fifty-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly. He also served as Minister Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations from 1998 to 2000.

Mr Sareva's prior diplomatic experience includes two tours of duty at the Embassy of Finland in in Moscow, most recently as Deputy Chief of Mission from 1996 to 1998. Prior to that, he was Director of Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Helsinki. He has also served as First Secretary at the Finnish Embassy in Washington, D.C. and as Counselor at the Finnish Mission to the CSCE (now OSCE) in Vienna.

Mr Sareva holds an M.A. from the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University and an M.Sc. (Political science) from the University of Turku in Finland. From 1989 to 1990, he spent an academic year in postgraduate training at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.

Born in 1959, Mr Sareva is married to Jaana Sareva, Chief of Legal Office of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund. They have two college-age daughters.