Cedric de Coning - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Academic publications by Cedric de Coning

AFRICAN CENTRE FOR THE CONSTRUCTIVE RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES (ACCORD), 2014

"Peacebuilding theory and practice has evolved over 20 years in response to highly complex and fl... more "Peacebuilding theory and practice has evolved over 20 years in response to highly complex and fluid factors and contexts. Over this period, peacebuilding has developed several salient features, including its reliance on implementation in the long term, the interdependence of various actors and the multidimensional nature of processes. Current post-conflict situations indicate that in practice, peacebuilding needs to become even more innovative, flexible and responsive to the requirements of local actors and contexts, while remaining sensitive to the potential for unintended consequences and doing harm.This Policy & Practice Brief (PPB) departs from the premise that the creation of an enabling peacebuilding environment cannot be achieved through application of standardised prescriptions. An enabling environment is achieved as a result of actors’ ability to stimulate the development of social institutions that are sufficiently resilient. This PPB thus aims to analyse how certain approaches can foster and strengthen the creation of enabling peacebuilding environments and provide recommendations as to how external actors can support these processes while avoiding pitfalls, focusing particularly on the concepts of fragility and resilience."

Papers by Cedric de Coning

Twenty-first Century Perspectives on War, Peace, and Human Conflict

The post-Cold War period has been one of the most peaceful and prosperous eras in human history. ... more The post-Cold War period has been one of the most peaceful and prosperous eras in human history. However, a number of developments disrupted this relative calm in the early twenty-first century, including the effects of climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, major shifts in the geopolitical power balance, significant advances in information technology, and the negative side-effects of globalization (de Coning 2022). All these trends and developments, separately and even more so when compounded, have increased the risk of violent conflict and have made preventing and resolving it more complex. Since 2010, there has been a relevant increase in the number of violent conflict incidents and conflict-related deaths, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons, and the number of natural disasters and

The environmental crisis is increasing risks to security and peace worldwide, notably in countrie... more The environmental crisis is increasing risks to security and peace worldwide, notably in countries that are already fragile. Indicators of insecurity such as the number of conflicts, the number of hungry people and military expenditure are rising; so are indicators of environmental decline, in climate change, biodiversity, pollution and other areas. In combination, the security and environmental crises are creating compound, cascading, emergent, systemic and existential risks. Without profound changes of approach by institutions of authority, risks will inevitably proliferate quickly. Environment of Peace surveys the evolving risk landscape and documents a number of developments that indicate a pathway to solutions––in international law and policy, in peacekeeping operations and among non-governmental organizations. It finds that two principal avenues need to be developed: (a) combining peace-building and environmental restoration, and (b) effectively addressing the underlying envir...

1, 2020

Africa represents the third wave of the spread of COVID-19, but its impact may significantly unde... more Africa represents the third wave of the spread of COVID-19, but its impact may significantly undermine the reform, programmes and operations of the African Union

China’s new, assertive role in UN peacekeeping, especially in Africa, represents a significant sh... more China’s new, assertive role in UN peacekeeping, especially in Africa, represents a significant shift in Beijing’s peace and security posture that is not yet fully reflected in official discourse and rhetoric, but that reflects China’s new confidence with its global power status. Every significant adaptation in its peacekeeping policy has reflected an important shift in the country’s practical foreign and security policy. Tracing and tracking China’s peacekeeping policy and practice is thus a useful proxy for analysing the evolution of its peace and security considerations. In this policy brief we consider the medium- to long-term trajectory of China’s peace and security practices by analysing its recent activity in Africa, focusing on how China has used its contributions to the UN peacekeeping missions in Mali (MINUSMA) and South Sudan (UNMISS)

The future of African peace operations, 2016

Any views expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They should not be interpreted ... more Any views expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. The text may not be printed in part or in full without the permission of the authors.  Lina Alexandra and Sharon Wiharta from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) for the Indonesia national case study  Dr. Alexander Lukin from the Center for World Politics and Public Diplomacy and Dr. Maxim Bratersky from the Higher School of Economics for the Russia national case study  Dr. Cedric de Coning and Priyal Singh from the Africa Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes for the South Africa national case study  Auveen Woods from the Istanbul Policy Center for the Turkey national case study The study has been overseen and edited by Dr. The PeaceCap Network wishes to acknowledge the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose support through the Norwegian Institute of International Af...

Over the last decade, setbacks in places like Burundi, Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen have undercu... more Over the last decade, setbacks in places like Burundi, Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen have undercut the credibility that peacebuilding enjoyed in the international system. These failures have combined with a push from rising powers against Western dominance to produce a turn to the Global South for more legitimate and effective responses to mass organized violence in the world. Onto this stage new actors like the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and other regional powers in the Global South, like Indonesia and Turkey, have emerged as new “donors” that advance their own political and technical approaches to peacebuilding. These rising powers seek to influence how the United Nations, other multilateral organizations, traditional donors, and recipient countries view and do peacebuilding. Their entry may fundamentally alter peacebuilding a decade from now. This book seeks to answer the following central questions: What exactly is new and innovative about the peacebu...

Norway lacks a comprehensive strategy for engaging in fragile states in general, as well as a who... more Norway lacks a comprehensive strategy for engaging in fragile states in general, as well as a whole-of-govern ment strategy for any particular country, including Afghanistan. This policy brief recommends that Norway should consider adopting a law, or high-level policy document, that make it a requirement for Norway to have a national whole-of-government policy towards every country where it is engaged in initiatives related to peacekeeping, peacebuilding or conflict resolution.

In the West, the rise of nationalist populism reached a tipping point in 2016 when it generated b... more In the West, the rise of nationalist populism reached a tipping point in 2016 when it generated both the United Kingdom vote for Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as President in the United States of America. In contrast, the BRICS have over this same period invested in strengthening their commitment to the United Nations, global governance and economic globalisation. Although their primary focus has been on inter-BRICS financial, trade and economic cooperation, they opted to focus their 2017 annual Summit on developing strategies to defend global governance, economic globalisation, free trade and collective climate action. How did we get to the point where it seems to be up to the BRICS to play an important role in rescuing globalisation?

Resilience, Adaptive Peacebuilding and Transitional Justice, 2021

This edited volume set out to explore how resilience, adaptive peacebuilding and transitional jus... more This edited volume set out to explore how resilience, adaptive peacebuilding and transitional justice can help societies recover after collective violence. To do so, it examined diverse societies across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East that have experienced, or are continuing to experience, violence. The eight case studies-Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH),

UN Peacekeeping Doctrine in a New Era, 2017

Choice Reviews Online, 2007

Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies, 2017

The concluding chapter analyzes the peacebuilding concepts, policies, and practices of five key r... more The concluding chapter analyzes the peacebuilding concepts, policies, and practices of five key rising powers—Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Turkey. It finds that these countries’ approaches share some key features but diverge in others. Rising powers have a broader concept of peacebuilding than most Western donor countries, but the extent to which they equate peacebuilding with development varies. They have a more holistic operational approach, a longer time horizon, and a strong emphasis on national ownership, but the latter is often narrowed down to governmental consent. They share a heightened sensitivity to sovereignty, but negotiate this in a variety of ways. It finds that the rising powers have influenced the discourse and practices of peacebuilding, especially at the United Nations (UN), but not transformed them. Several recent setbacks raise doubts about whether rising powers will sustain their new influential role in peacebuilding. This volume shows that risin...