Year in Review: Top Global Observatory Reads of 2017

While North Korea’s missile program, the shift in US policy in the international arena, and the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Yemen occupied the attention of news media in 2017, Global Observatory readership was dominated by articles on the UN. This was Secretary-General António Guterres’ first year, and our articles on peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and sustaining peace analyzed aspects of his agenda and the challenges he faces.

We found that 50 percent of the 20 most-read articles in 2017 were published in 2016 or earlier, and our most-read article was an August 2016 piece on the Philippines’ war on drugs. The most-read interview was a 2015 Q&A with Aisha Abdullahi. Also, our interactive on tracking murders worldwide from 2015, the updated Catalogue of Indices from 2016, and our informative comparison of al-Qaeda and ISIS narratives from 2015 remained top reads.

Below are the top 10 articles from 2017:

The Meaning of Sustaining Peace and Peacebuilding:

US Cuts and the Need for Accountability in UN Peacekeeping:

Peacekeeping and Interventions in Africa:

Al-Shabaab in the Horn of Africa:

Analyzing Popular Protests in Ethiopia:

Reconstructing Iraq in Order to Avoid Instability: