News 

Conflict and Peacebuilding Programme  

The GCSP's Conflict and Peacebuilding Programme (COPE) offers training courses, holds public events and conducts research on policy-relevant and solution-oriented conflict and peacebuilding issues.

In terms of training, the COPE will conduct two peacebuilding courses this coming autumn on behalf of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). The 12th Swiss Peacebuilding Training Course (28 August-10 September 2011) organised in partnership with swisspeace and the Swiss Armed Forces International Command, which offers comprehensive theoretical and practical peacebuilding training to Swiss and international participants. The 3rd Senior Level Peacebuilding Course: Enhancing Leadership for Peacebuilding (6-9 November 2011) organised in partnership with Interpeace and the support of UNITAR, that provides an opportunity for current and potential leaders (domestic and international) to enhance their understanding of leadership in peacebuilding contexts.

The COPE also hosts numerous dialogues and seminars. For instance, the GCSP recently hosted a book launch of the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2011 on 27 June. In cooperation with the International Peace Institute (IPI) and with the support of the French Ministry of Defence, the COPE organised a seminar in New York on 16 and 17 June "For a Renewed Consensus on UN Peacekeeping Operations: Addressing National Concerns and Constraints". It addressed obstacles to what the New Horizon non-paper called "a shared understanding among all stakeholders of the objectives of UN peacekeeping." On 9-10 June, the GCSP and UNITAR co-hosted the 7th Annual Meeting of the Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration Training Group (IDDRTG), of which the GCSP is a member organisation, with twelve other training institutions worldwide. 

The GCSP is also a steering committee member of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform (GPP) and recently co-organised the following events:

• "What Prospects for Côte d'Ivoire?" with Mr Gilles Olakounlé Yabi (International Crisis Group) on 6 June

• The Geneva launch of the "World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security, and Development" on 24 May with the World Bank and the FDFA. The WDR 2011 presented new research and insights into the causes and development consequences of conflict, and advocates a greater focus on continuous preventive action and new directions for international policy.

For more information on COPE activities and publications, click here.

Highlights of the International Security Forum (ISF), 30 May to 1 June 2011, Zurich

The ISF 2011, which concluded on 1 June in Zurich, brought together nearly 500 international security professionals from all over the world for over 90 presentations in 31 panels. The ISF is held every 2 years, alternating between Geneva and Zurich, and was presented this year by the Center for Security Studies (CSS) of the ETH Zurich. The GCSP is proud to have been a contributing partner to the Forum. The programme consisted of a rich menu of keynote addresses by distinguished speakers and various specialist panels on diverse issues of relevance to international peace and security today. Eight such panels featured GCSP experts. GCSP panels were organised on the following topics: Al-Qaeda, migration and security, the South Caucasus, disarmament, regional security, international humanitarian law, and dignity and global security. The opening Plenary Session, chaired by Ambassador Fred Tanner, on "Power Shifts and Regional Order - Revolts and Revolutions in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula" addressed the likely results of recent popular uprisings in the region and the profound effects these events will have at both the regional and global level. Panellists included John W. Limbert (United States Naval Academy), Volker Perthes (SWP, Berlin), Yossi Alpher (Tel Aviv University) and Fawaz A Gerges (LSE, London). The ISF also hosted the launch event of the Swiss chapter of Women in International Security (WIIS), a non-profit association that promotes women as leading voices in the discourse on security. The entire ISF 2011 programme can be accessed here.

Training

Upcoming Courses

11-14 July 2011: The Summer Workshop on "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.

22 August - 20 October 2011: 2nd Online Course on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and Disarmament. This eight-week course is designed to familiarise participants with the provisions, history and complexities of the NPT and its relationship to disarmament.

28 August - 9 September 2011: 12th Swiss Peacebuilding Training Course. The aim of this course is to provide comprehensive peacebuilding training in order to prepare participants for deployments.

12-14 September 2011: 4th Annual Senior Officers' Seminar (ASOS). This seminar offers a unique professional development and networking opportunity for Flag Officers and high-level experts on contemporary politico-military developments and current trends in multinational operations.

Past Courses

26-27 May 2011: The GCSP conducted the Expert Training Modules covering the following topics: the Role of Nationalism in Contemporary International Politics; New Frontiers in Intelligence; and Meeting the Cybersecurity Challenge.

Events

Upcoming Events   

27 June 2011: The GCSP together with ICI (Center on International Cooperation, New York University) is hosting a book launch on the "Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2011". For more information, please contact Ms Asa Granados.

27-28 June 2011: The GCSP will co-organise a seminar on "Preventing and Responding to Genocide and Mass Atrocities" from 27 to 28 June 2011, in partnership with the Office of the Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect, United Nations, New York. For more information, please contact Ms Asa Granados.

30 June 2011: NPT Action Plan Seminar on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy is part of a multi-year project jointly organised by the GCSP, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), and Reaching Critical Will (a programme of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom), supported by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the Geneva Branch of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). It will be followed by further seminars on non-proliferation (on 29 September 2011) and on disarmament (on 20 January 2012).

4 July 2011: The GCSP will organise a Public Discussion on "Kyrgyzstan between ethnic challenges and the construction of democracy" to focus on the outcomes of thereport by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry into the Events in Southern Kyrgyzstan in the June 2010, and prospects for stability in Kyrgyzstan towards and beyond the forthcoming presidential election. The keynote speakers will include Dr Kimmo Kiljunen, Head of the Commission, Ambassador Gulnara Iskakova, Permanent Representative of Kyrgyzstan in Geneva; Juliette de Rivero, Geneva Director, Human Rights Watch, and Maisy Weicherding, Researcher, Amnesty International, London. Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini, Diplomat-in-residence, Head of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Conflict in Georgia will chair the discussion, and the welcome address will be given by former Ambassador Alain Guidetti, Diplomat-in-residence, GCSP.

4-7 July 2011: The GCSP will run the 3rd Annual Senior Officers' Security and Law Conference bringing together Flag Officers, their senior civilian and police counterparts and senior legal and operational advisers to discuss legal challenges and opportunities presented by the modern strategic environment. The aim of the conference is to offer participants a neutral and agenda-free environment to engage with their peers and with the experienced specialists and experts brought in to lead the discussions.

Past Events

6 June 2011: GCSP-GPP Policy Briefing "What Prospects for Côte d'Ivoire?" with Mr Gilles Olakounlé Yabi, West Africa Project Director, International Crisis Group, Dakar Chair, and Dr Caty Clément, Head of the Conflict and Peacebuilding Programme, GCSP. 

15 June 2011: Public Discussion on "New Challenges in Disarming Weapons of Mass Destruction" looked at how to address new disarmament challenges and came-up with a list of policy recommendations. Panellists included Mr Malik Azhar Ellahi, Head of Government Relations and Political Affairs Branch at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW);  Mr Richard Lennane, Head of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Implementation Support Unit at the United Nations Office at Geneva; Professor Dr Harald Müller, Executive Director and Head of Research Department at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF); and Dr Theresa Hitchens, Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). The Chair was Dr W. Pal Sidhu, Visiting Fellow and Director of the New Issues in Security Course at the GCSP and Dr Khalid Koser, Academic Dean and Head of the New Issues in Security Programme at the GCSP, made the welcome address.

16-17 June 2011: Joint GCSP-IPI Seminar "For a Renewed Consensus on UN Peacekeeping Operations. Addressing National Concerns and Constraints" took place in New York. The seminar was organised in cooperation with the International Peace Institute (IPI) and with the support of the French Ministry of Defence, and addressed potential obstacles to what the New Horizon non-paper called "a shared understanding among all stakeholders of the objectives of UN peacekeeping and the role that each plays in their realization". Some 50 UN representatives, academics and member-state experts took part in the event.

23 June 2011: Public Discussion on "Drone Attacks, International Law, and the Recording of Civilian Casualties of Armed Conflict" welcomed Mr Hamit Dardagan, Co-Director, Oxford Research Group's Recording Casualties in Armed Conflict Programme, Ms Rachel Joyce, Legal consultant and Researcher, Oxford Research Group's Recording Casualties of Armed Conflict Programme, and Ms Elizabeth Minor, Researcher, Oxford Research Group's Recording Casualties of Armed Conflict Programme. They addressed the topics related to the specific components of the international legal obligation to record civilian casualties which is  found within international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and which applies to the current drone attacks being conducted in Pakistan and Yemen by the Central Intelligence Agency. All of the parties involved in these attacks are under a duty to account for the civilian casualties of these drone attacks and to ensure a mechanism is put in place to ensure compliance with international law.

Research and Publications 

New Publications

The GCSP is proud to announce the following new publications:

Geneva Paper 

Cooperating to Build Peace: The UN-EU Inter-Institutional Complex
Geneva Paper - Research Series N°2

by Thierry Tardy

This paper examines the UN-EU relationship in post-conflict peacebuilding through the analysis of its rationale, achievements, and limitations. While it integrates the peacekeeping element, which is part of the peacebuilding endeavour, the study goes beyond the military-related dimension of the UN-EU relationship to focus on the civilian aspects of the broad post-conflict peace consolidation realm.

The Research Series offers innovative analyses, case studies, policy prescriptions, and critiques, to encourage discussion in International Geneva and beyond.

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.

Books
by the Geopolitics of Globalisation and Transnational Security Programme

Critical turning points in the Middle East: 1915-2015

by Nayef R.F. Al-Rodhan, Graeme P. Herd, Lisa Watanabe 

This book takes a refreshing look at the modern Middle East through the prisms of six cascading negative critical turning points. It identifies the seeds of a potential seventh generated by poor governance paradigms and exacerbated by geopolitical competition for the region's natural resources. The authors argue that this problem can only be effectively addressed through the development of endogenous good governance paradigms that are culturally appropriate, affordable and acceptable to the people of the Middle East, while meeting certain minimal criteria that ensure global moral and political cooperation. They conclude by proposing a set of recommendations designed to promote stability and security in the region and to enable its true potential as a vibrant, tolerant and innovative region to be realized.

 

The Politics of Emerging Strategic Technologies: Implications for Geopolitics, Human Enhancement and Human Destiny (St Antony's Series) by Nayef R.F. Al-Rodhan

Emerging technologies hold great promise but also pose major challenges to global politics, national and international security, human dignity and human destiny. This book examines the latest innovations, key trends and geopolitical and human implications of emerging strategic technologies such as Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and Artificial Intelligence. The potential use and misuse of these technologies in human enhancement (physical and cognitive) is considered to be one of the major challenges of our time. Nayef Al-Rodhan argues that human enhancement and the future evolution into transhumans is inevitable. To prepare for these potential existential threats, the global community is urged to establish strict moral and legal guidelines that balance the need for innovation with the guarantee of dignity for all.

Alumni

The GCSP is proud to share with you the website of B-GCSP, our Belgian Alumni Association. This national alumni group was created in 2007 to "keep the thoughts and practices, call it the spirit of Geneva, experienced during one of the main GCSP courses ITC, ETC or NISC, alive and to maintain, foster and expand personal networking relations among participants". Full membership is reserved for Belgian alumni of the GCSP, but alumni nationals of other countries who are posted in Belgium can benefit from an associated membership.

The GCSP encourages the establishment of national alumni associations to support its mission - including, as stated in its Strategy, the development of knowledge, skills, and mutual understanding among professionals working for peace and security - and foster a greater sense of community among GCSP alumni living in the same area. National associations can thus benefit from alumni interactions by enhancing networking opportunities, further exchanging information and knowledge, and by strengthening connections amongst alumni, as well as between alumni and the GCSP. For instance, national associations could benefit from special presentations on a given topic by GCSP faculty members or associate fellows, organised visits of regional or international organisations, or simply a pleasant social evening in the company of other GCSP alumni. The GCSP is honoured that Col Guido Maene, who has many years of experience in alumni affairs and currently serves as President of the B-GCSP, has agreed to be available during the period 2011-2012 in order to assist in the creation of a national association. 

Visit our website for more information about our National Alumni Associations, or contact us at alumni@gcsp.ch or +41 22 906 16 94.