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Author: Robert Muggah

by Robert Muggah

Robert Muggah is the co-founder and Research Director of the Igarapé Institute based in Rio de Janeiro and the SecDev Group in Ottawa.
More articles by this author →

  • Preserving Brazil’s Sovereignty Means Taking Responsibility for the Amazon

    Brazil Amazon Fires
    September 30, 2019Adriana Erthal Abdenur and Robert Muggah

    A tricky question is how to conserve global public goods, such as forests, at a time when multilateral cooperation is waning.

    Analysisamericas, climate-change
  • As Guaidó Returns to Venezuela, Priorities Are De-escalation and Elections

    March 6, 2019by Adriana Erthal Abdenur and Robert Muggah

    Rather than turning up the temperature, governments should be working to de-escalate the crisis before Venezuela melts down entirely.

    Analysisamericas
  • Brazil, With Most Homicides in the World, Moves to Loosen Gun Laws

    February 20, 2019Robert Muggah and Melina Risso

    While talk of citizens carrying weapons on the street to keep gun-toting criminals at bay is popular with the president’s supporters, it is incorrect. The implications of revoking gun laws are also potentially dangerous.

    Analysisamericas
  • Brazil’s Foreign Policy Lurches Rightward

    October 30, 2018by Robert Muggah

    As we sift through the burning embers of the presidential campaign, what are some of Jair Bolsonaro’s key foreign policy priorities?

    Analysisamericas, elections
  • UN Out of Step on World Drug Problem

    April 21, 2016by Robert Muggah

    The UNGASS is out of step with major changes taking place around the world. The outcome document does not account for the many new and urgent drug-related threats—including synthetics.

    Analysistransnational-organized-crime, united-nations
  • Interactive Map Tracks Murder Rate Worldwide

    May 19, 2015by Robert Muggah and Renata Giannini

    In 2012, the latest date for which relatively comprehensive information is available, one out of every three people violently killed each year around the world—outside ongoing war zones—was either Brazilian, Colombian, Mexican, or Venezuelan.

    Mapsamericas, technology
  • Why Police Body Cameras Are Taking Off, Even After Eric Garner’s Death

    December 11, 2014by Robert Muggah

    If adopted effectively and with carefully considered checks and balances, the use of police body cameras may help prevent future accidents.

    Analysishuman-rights, justice
  • The United Nations Turns to Stabilization

    December 5, 2014by Robert Muggah

    The concept of stabilization is gaining traction within the UN system, but there is still a considerable lack of clarity about what it is, what it is intended to achieve, and when it begins or ends.

    Analysisfragile-states, united-nations
  • Dispatch to Brazil: Give Peace a Chance in the Post-2015 Development Agenda

    March 6, 2014by Eduarda Hamann and Robert Muggah

    Brazil is justifiably proud of its historical commitment to peace, yet there are signs that Brazil’s forward momentum in promoting safety, security, justice, and governance is lagging.

    Analysisamericas, development, peace-and-security
  • Visualizing the Web of Armed Actors in Congo

    February 11, 2014by Cathy Nagini and Robert Muggah

    A new data visualization could help shed some light on the protagonists of Congo’s interlocking conflicts.

    Analysisdemocratic-republic-of-the-congo, technology
  • Next →

This week

  • The Role of Peacekeepers in Protecting Civilians from Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

    May 25, 2022by Jenna Russo

    There are a number of reasons why it is difficult for peacekeepers to protect civilians from sexual and gender-based violence, particularly those forms that fall outside of conflict-related sexual violence.

    Analysispeacekeeping, protection-of-civilians, women-peace-and-security
  • Protecting Peace? How the Protection of Civilians Contributes to Peace Processes

    May 23, 2022by Jenna Russo

    Without a corresponding political process, UN protection activities are an ineffective bandaid in situations of widespread violence.

    Analysispeacekeeping, protection-of-civilians

Trending

  • Russia, NATO, and International Organizations

    May 23, 2022by Kseniya Oksamytna

    As Finland and Sweden begin the process of applying for NATO membership, misleading narratives about the role of NATO’s so-called eastward expansion in “provoking” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continue to hold sway.

    Analysisconflict, eastern-europe
  • Sanctions and the Costs of Russia’s War in Ukraine

    May 12, 2022by Erica Moret

    The sanctions imposed against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine mark a new page in global sanctions practice yet lessons from earlier cases could help increase efficacy and minimize costs.

    Analysisconflict, europe, ukraine
  • A4P+ and Uniformed Women’s Participation in Peacekeeping

    April 26, 2022by Gretchen Baldwin and Jake Sherman

    The UN, in its implementation of A4P+, must address the heavily masculine, exclusionary, and militarized structures which often preclude women (and anyone outside of a very particular gendered profile) from deploying.

    Analysisa4p, peacekeeping, women-peace-and-security
  • Despite Constraints, MINUSMA Remains the Legitimate International Partner to Mali

    April 21, 2022by Rida Lyammouri

    Facing its most difficult period since its inception in April 2013, MINUSMA, and the Security Council, now need to acknowledge that their biggest problems in Mali are political.

    Analysisafrica, mali, peacekeeping
  • While Afghans Wait, States and Banks Decrypt the Humanitarian Exception in the Taliban Sanctions Regime

    April 14, 2022by Agathe Sarfati

    Amid mounting pressure to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan, the United Nations Security Council took the rare step of creating a humanitarian exception for the 1988 Taliban sanctions regime.

    Analysisafghanistan, humanitarian
  • What Are the International Military Options for the Sahel?

    April 12, 2022by Nina Wilén and Paul D. Williams

    The complex, and not always coordinated, ecosystem of military operations across the Sahel has been aptly labeled a security traffic jam. Why are external forces in the Sahel? Can they help resolve any of the region’s crises? And, if so, what configuration of external forces makes the most sense?

    Analysismali, peacekeeping, sahel
  • NATO, the EU, and the War in Ukraine: Interview with Paul Poast 

    April 8, 2022by Eimer Curtin

    It has been six weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine and the conflict is devolving into a stalemate. Paul Poast discusses the responses of NATO, the shifts in EU defense policies, and how this war might end.

    Interviewsconflict, europe
  • Climate Governance, Reform or Perish—The Future of the UNFCCC

    April 6, 2022Jimena Leiva Roesch and Eimer Curtin

    As the need for stronger commitments toward the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees grows, the voices and interests of the most vulnerable people and countries are not being given precedence in global climate talks.

    Analysisclimate-change, united-nations
  • The Benefits, Challenges, and Limitations of Criminalizing Ecocide

    March 30, 2022by Rachel Killean

    The campaign to introduce a new international crime of “ecocide” at the International Criminal Court is long-standing but has received increased support over the last couple of years.

    Analysisenvironment
  • Putin’s “Peacekeepers”

    February 23, 2022by Paul D. Williams

    Putin has ordered Russian soldiers to conduct what he called “peacekeeping operations” in Donetsk and Luhansk, a clear violation of international law and a perversion of the important international concept of peacekeeping.

    Analysisconflict, europe
  • Analyzing Member State Pledges from the 2021 UN Peacekeeping Ministerial

    February 9, 2022by Daniel Forti and Mark J. Wood

    After nearly two years of advocacy, preparations, and deliberations, what did UN peacekeeping’s most prominent pledging conference secure in terms of personnel, capabilities, and finances?

    Analysispeacekeeping, united-nations
  • ECOWAS Sanctions Against Mali Necessary, but May Be Counter-Productive

    February 2, 2022by Festus Kofi Aubyn

    The new sanctions were triggered by months of growing tensions between ECOWAS and the military-dominated transitional government over the timetable for Mali’s return to civilian rule after two successful coups d’état.

    Analysisafrica, sanctions
  • New Name, but Little Sign of Change: The Revised Agreement on the African Union Mission in Somalia

    January 27, 2022by Colin Robinson

    The AU mission’s success relies on the handover of military responsibilities to an effective Somali replacement. But the Somali National Army remains as politicized and clan-divided as it has ever been.

    Analysisafrica, african-union, peacekeeping
  • Ugandan and Congolese Troops Are Conducting Joint Operations: What Could that Mean for MONUSCO?

    December 20, 2021by Daniel Levine-Spound

    The joint operations against the Allied Democratic Forces in the Beni territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo raise critical legal, operational, and reputational challenges for MONUSCO.

    Analysisafrica, peacekeeping
  • Is the Global Climate Governance System Working?

    November 23, 2021by Jimena Leiva Roesch, Julia Almeida Nobre, and Eimer Curtin

    In the wake of COP26, there is a need to examine the current structures and dynamics of global climate governance.

    Analysisclimate-change, climate2021
  • How Permafrost Thaw Puts the Russian Arctic at Risk

    November 22, 2021by Katarina Kertysova and Akash Ramnath

    Permafrost thaw presents a major challenge to Arctic communities and ecosystems and has enormous potential to accelerate climate change and its global impacts.

    Analysisclimate-change, climate2021
  • Advancing Women, Peace and Security in the UN Security Council: Critical Choices for Elected Member States

    October 7, 2021Patty Chang, Louise Olsson, and Angela Muvumba Sellström

    How the ten elected members of the Security Council act, and the issues they raise, can have a lasting effect.

    Analysiswomen-peace-and-security, wpsat21
  • The Pitfalls of UN Peacekeeping in Afghanistan

    September 1, 2021by Paul D. Williams

    Neither local nor international politics are currently right for a UN peacekeeping deployment in Afghanistan.

    Analysisafghanistan, peacekeeping
  • How Can Artificial Intelligence Help Curb Deforestation in the Amazon?

    November 23, 2020by Adriana Erthal Abdenur

    Some of the most promising innovations for enhancing the monitoring of forests involve artificial intelligence.

    Analysisclimate-change, climate2020
  • The International Community’s Soft Acceptance of the Coup in Mali

    September 3, 2020by Alex Thurston

    The soft acceptance of the coup is ultimately a soft acceptance of the status quo in Mali.

    Analysismali, sahel

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