International Peace Institute

International Peace Institute Advancing Solutions for a Peaceful Planet Advancing Multilateral Solutions for a Peaceful Planet

This week, we convened a closed-door roundtable on how peacekeeping missions are adapting under significant resource c...
06/04/2026

This week, we convened a closed-door roundtable on how peacekeeping missions are adapting under significant resource constraints.

USG Jean-Pierre Lacroix opened the discussion, setting the stage for a candid conversation with member states on what the ongoing contingency measures mean in practice.

With the Secretary-General’s review on the future of UN peace operations expected this month, this interim conversation comes at a critical moment for the future of peace operations.

🫱🏻‍🫲🏼 Thank you to our partners for making this conversation possible: Permanent Mission of Denmark to the UN, Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations, Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations.

🔔New on the Global Observatory: How UN80 Can Reform the UN for a Volatile, Uncertain World The UN80 reform process has f...
06/04/2026

🔔New on the Global Observatory: How UN80 Can Reform the UN for a Volatile, Uncertain World

The UN80 reform process has focused on improving coherence, efficiency, and institutional agility. But in a world increasingly shaped by climate shocks, technological disruption, geopolitical fragmentation, and cascading crises, is a more efficient UN necessarily a more adaptive one?

In this article, Adam Day and Jack Strachan argue that many of the UN’s structures still reflect a sequential “waterfall” approach to decision making—one that assumes uncertainty can be reduced before action is taken. They explore how this logic can limit adaptation in rapidly changing environments and propose ways the UN could better integrate learning, experimentation, prevention, and cross-pillar collaboration into its work.

As UN80 moves from reform design to implementation, can the organization evolve from managing predictable problems to navigating uncertainty itself?

👉Read the full analysis: https://rebrand.ly/bvvs2bh

Phoebe Donnelly, head of IPI’s Women, Peace and Security, was at the 5th Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Poli...
06/03/2026

Phoebe Donnelly, head of IPI’s Women, Peace and Security, was at the 5th Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy in Madrid.

“Building Peace and Democracy” was this year’s theme focus. She attended the civil society convening on Monday and the formal sessions the past two days, with discussions spanning inclusive multilateralism, the care society, challenges to democracy, and linking WPS and FFP.

Here is Phoebe with Ana María Alonso Giganto, Ambassador-at-large for Feminist Foreign Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Spain. Congrats to Ana, and her colleagues from Spain, for organizing this productive conference.

Last week, IPI's Director of Research and Head of the Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations Jenna Russo traveled to...
06/03/2026

Last week, IPI's Director of Research and Head of the Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations Jenna Russo traveled to Geneva to help lead a workshop on "Strategic Foresight and Scenario-based Exercises on the Future of Peace Operations" in partnership with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI).

During the workshop, participants explored how strategic foresight tools can facilitate improved planning.

They also engaged in a scenario-based planning exercise, in which they generated proposals for mission models in a variety of loosely based-on-reality settings across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

The retreat received generous support from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.

🔔New on the Global Observatory: Governing Migration beyond Washington: How Member States Can Sustain the Global Compact ...
06/03/2026

🔔New on the Global Observatory: Governing Migration beyond Washington: How Member States Can Sustain the Global Compact

The United States' decision to publicly reject the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) after the 2026 International Migration Review Forum was about more than migration policy. It raised broader questions about the future of multilateral cooperation on issues that no state can manage alone.

In this article, Christian Lara examines the evolving architecture of global migration governance, from the GCM and the International Organization for Migration to regional consultative processes and bilateral agreements. He argues that the real challenge is not whether migration will occur, but whether it will be managed through coordinated frameworks or increasingly fragmented arrangements.

As more governments recalibrate their approach to migration, can international cooperation adapt to political realities while still delivering practical results for states and communities alike?

👉Read the full analysis: https://rebrand.ly/xij28hy

🔔New on the Global Observatory: Where Does the Secretary-General Go? Travel as a Proxy for Effort Secretary-general visi...
06/02/2026

🔔New on the Global Observatory: Where Does the Secretary-General Go? Travel as a Proxy for Effort

Secretary-general visits can shape diplomacy, mobilize resources, strengthen human rights outcomes, and signal international attention in moments of crisis. But not all travel is equal. Some visits are routine and ceremonial; others involve political risk, uncertainty, and the possibility of failure.

In this article, Daniel Safran-Hon examines nearly three decades of UN secretary-general travel, comparing the approaches of Kofi Annan, Ban Ki-moon, and António Guterres. Using travel data and recent research, he argues that where a secretary-general chooses to go—and where they do not—offers insight into how they exercise leadership, build influence, and engage with the world's most difficult crises.

As discussions begin over the next UN secretary-general, should we pay closer attention not only to what candidates say, but also to whether they are willing to go where failure is a real possibility?

👉Read the full analysis: https://rebrand.ly/99mltxa

06/01/2026

In his interview for The Art of Diplomacy podcast at the , IPI President and CEO Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein reflects on leadership, moral courage, and diplomacy in today’s world.

👉🏼 Listen at the link in bio.

🔔 New IPI Policy Paper: The Glass Blue Helmet: Progress and Persistent Challenges for Women Military Peacekeepers Over...
05/29/2026

🔔 New IPI Policy Paper: The Glass Blue Helmet: Progress and Persistent Challenges for Women Military Peacekeepers

Over the past five years, progress on women’s meaningful participation in UN peacekeeping operations has been real—but insufficient.

Drawing on interviews with 85 women military peacekeepers from 43 troop-contributing countries, this new policy paper by Lotte Vermeij examines the persistent gap between the UN’s commitments on women’s meaningful participation and women’s experiences in mission environments.

The paper finds that while training opportunities, peer-support networks, and leadership visibility have expanded, many women peacekeepers continue to face role misalignment, exclusion from operational decision making, harassment, inadequate equipment, and weak accountability systems.

The report argues that leadership remains the decisive variable shaping whether missions create genuinely inclusive operational environments or simply meet numerical targets on paper.

👉 Read the full policy paper: https://bit.ly/4xcKtAS

🔔 New IPI Policy Paper: Are Missions Delivering on Gender-Responsive Peace Operations? Lessons from South Sudan and Soma...
05/28/2026

🔔 New IPI Policy Paper: Are Missions Delivering on Gender-Responsive Peace Operations? Lessons from South Sudan and Somalia

Gender-responsive peace operations are about more than representation targets or standalone gender units. They require integrating a gender lens into the operational systems that shape how missions plan, engage communities, and protect civilians.

This policy paper by Emmaculate Asige Liaga examines how UNMISS and the AU missions in Somalia (AMISOM and ATMIS) have operationalized gender responsiveness across mission mandates, institutional structures, leadership, deployment, and community engagement.

The paper finds that missions are most effective when gender expertise is embedded upstream in decision making, when women peacekeepers are deployed in operational roles, and when leadership treats gender responsiveness as central to mission effectiveness rather than a compliance exercise.

👉 Read the full policy paper: https://bit.ly/4dKJFu0

When the blue helmets leave, what happens next and how can the system do it better?👉🏼 Swipe through the carousel to le...
05/28/2026

When the blue helmets leave, what happens next and how can the system do it better?

👉🏼 Swipe through the carousel to learn more about peacekeeping transitions and IPI’s Observatory.

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