REFLECT
|  | | "The EU in the MENA region: confounded by the chaos?" | The latest in our Policy Papers series is written by Domhnall O'Sullivan and focuses on the changing role of the EU in the Middle East and North Africa. The paper argues that the EU -- like most international actors -- is confounded by the situation since the 2011 Arab uprisings and much policy-making has become a day-to-day exercise in diplomatic improvisation. The paper, however, identifies several overarching shifts in the European stance in recent years.
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SHARE
|  | "The world should get better at launching ideas instead of rockets": Networking Lunch with Adm James Stavridis
| Admiral (Retd) James Stavridis, Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and GCSP Associate Fellow, visited the Centre this week to address a distinguished group of high-level representatives from the worlds of diplomacy, business and the media. Drawing upon his more than thirty years of service with the US Navy, experience as NATO's 16th Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and a number of senior operational military appointments, Admiral Stavridis focused his talk on 21st century security challenges and on why security of the future should be built with bridges rather than walls.
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ACT
|  | Quick insights from guest lecturer Nicola Jones on economic strengthening and gender in peacebuilding
| Men and women in post-conflict areas tend to face different economic challenges and to respond to poverty in different ways. In such contexts, cash transfers targeted at the poorest quintile of the population and often specifically to women have the potential to:
- Provide women, who traditionally have little access to paid-employment or land (despite the fact that they are ultimately responsible for the well-being of their children), with some independence;
- Mitigate the need for women to engage in risky activities (such as survival sex);
- Reduce the "provider pressure" felt by men, who frequently resort to a hyper-masculinity born of shame at not being able to provide for their families, and which often feeds domestic and sexual violence;
- Reduce the likelihood of future conflict, by reducing insurgent influence; and
- Reshape the ways in which men and women survive in fragile post-conflict areas.
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ACTION POINT >> To what extent has your organisation sought to support or link up with interventions that aim at economic strengthening for women and men as part of a broader portfolio of peacebuilding activities?
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