Security governance and the private military industry in Europe and North America

Even before Iraq the growing use of private military contractors has been widely discussed in the academic and public literature. However, the reasons for this proliferation of private military companies and its implications are frequently generalized due to a lack of suitable theoretical approaches for the analysis of private means of violence in contemporary security. As a consequence, this article contends, the analysis of the growth of the private military industry typically conflates two separate developments: the failure of some developing states to provide for their national security and the privatisation of military services in industrialized nations in Europe and North America. This article focuses on the latter and argues that the concept of security governance can be used as a theoretical framework for understanding the distinct development, problems and solutions for the governance of the private military industry in developed countries.The United States Institute of Peace and the German Academic Exchange Service

Agents of change? Gender advisors in NATO militaries

This paper is about the experiences of Gender Advisors in NATO and partner militaries, and the question of whether militaries can contribute to a feminist vision of peace and security. Gender Advisors are increasingly being adopted as a mechanism to help militaries to implement commitments under the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Based on semi-structured interviews and a workshop with individuals working as Military Gender Advisors from 2009 to 2016 in Afghanistan, Kosovo and in NATO and national military commands and headquarters, this paper explores their own perceptions of their work, its goals, shortcomings and achievements. It highlights Military Gender Advisors’ strong commitment to Women, Peace and Security aims, but the resistance their work faces within their institutions, and challenges of inadequate resourcing, preparation and contextual knowledge. Military Gender Advisors’ experiences paint a picture of NATO and partner Militaries having in some places made progress in protection and empowerment of local women, but fragile and partial. These findings speak to wider debates within feminist security studies around whether and how militaries achieve human security in peacekeeping operations, and the risks of militarisation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda

Improving the prospects for future international peace operations : workshop proceedings.

"September 1995."Shipping list no.: 96-0042-P.Workshop on Improving the Prospects for Future Peace Operations: Tactics, Technology, Training; held in June 1995.Includes bibliographical references.Mode of access: Internet

Economic Development in Peacekeeping Host Countries

To what extent does United Nations peacekeeping assist in laying the foundations for economic development? We conduct the first exploratory analysis of the effect of peace operations on the economic development of the host countries. We highlight the need for new inferential methods to reveal the extent to which robust conclusions about the success of missions can be drawn. We then apply synthetic control methods to 11 peace operations deployed since the end of the Cold War. Our results suggest that, in seven cases, peacekeeping does not seem to significantly affect economic rehabilitation. In two of the remaining four cases, the impact is negative rather than positive, pointing to persistent hurdles to identification