Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 03/2011

Cooperating for Peace: The Challenges and Promises of Partnerships in Peace Operations

July 2010

The Geneva Centre for Security Policy

Abstract

In the over two decades since UN peacekeepers won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988, the mechanisms and means for providing peacekeeping “supply” where it is needed continue to bedevil policy makers and those on the ground tasked with the difficult job of international intervention. Today, the peacekeeping agenda is packed with concerns such as the protection of civilians, peacekeeping when there is no peace to keep, managing spoilers, balancing humanitarian, peacebuilding and development imperatives, and the realization that vulnerability to relapse into conflict means that peacekeepers may be required for years and indeed decades to come. The challenge of creating a system of partnership to address the demand-side needs is evident. The seminar on which this Geneva Report is based emanates from the research and deliberations of scholars and practitioners with extensive expertise, in or knowledge of, peace operations who gathered in December 2009, to facilitate exchange, to share knowledge, and to distill critical lessons learned. Approximately thirty scholars and practitioners participated in the meeting. The seminar is part of an annual series of seminars convened jointly by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the International Peace Institute.