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Author: Youssef Mahmoud

by Youssef Mahmoud

Youssef Mahmoud is a Senior Adviser at the International Peace Institute.
More articles by this author →

  • Financing for Peacebuilding: Beyond Money

    October 19, 2022by Youssef Mahmoud

    On September 8th, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/76/305 on financing for peacebuilding. At a first glance, this four-page document appears to be a reiteration of previously agreed text on peacebuilding financing which can be easily found in the  2016 twin resolutions on peacebuilding and sustaining peace; in the subsequent ones in […]

    Analysispeacebuilding
  • Peace as the Norm: Sustaining Peace in Africa

    July 8, 2022by Youssef Mahmoud and Chimwemwe A. Fabiano

    The African continent has a rich and varied repertoire of formal and informal capacities, knowledge, and experiences to decolonize the study and practice of peace and develop an integrated African agenda for sustaining peace.

    Analysisafrica, peacebuilding
  • What Does Collective Leadership Have To Do With COVID-19 and Peace?

    May 20, 2021by Youssef Mahmoud

    Collective system leadership has enabled some countries to successfully manage the onslaught and debilitating consequences of COVID-19, an approach that could also be usefully applied to situations where attempts to build and sustain peace have failed.

    Analysiscoronavirus, sustaining-peace
  • Whatever Future Holds for Peace Operations, Peacebuilding Must Be More Local and Plural

    COVID-19 Awareness
    September 25, 2020by Youssef Mahmoud

    A world that seems unmoored and in disarray has undeniable implications for the UN’s work, particularly in the area of peace and security.

    Analysispeacekeeping, futureofpeacekeeping
  • What Kind of Leadership Does Sustaining Peace Require?

    January 18, 2019by Youssef Mahmoud

    Much has been written about leaders, about peace, and most recently about peace leadership, but little about leadership for sustaining peace.

    Analysispeacebuilding, sustaining-peace
  • Without Prioritization of Peace and Women’s Leadership, WPS in Peril

    October 25, 2018by Youssef Mahmoud

    A number of developments have emerged over the past few years indicating that the WPS agenda is under stress, if not in peril.

    Analysiswomen-peace-and-security
  • Le réseau FemWise-Africa peut-il rendre la médiation opérante pour pérenniser la paix?

    June 7, 2018by Youssef Mahmoud

    En juillet 2017, la Conférence des chefs d’État et de gouvernement de l’Union africaine (UA) a établi le Réseau des médiatrices africaines, couramment appelé FemWise-Africa, afin de renforcer le rôle des femmes dans la prévention et la médiation des conflits. La place donnée au réseau FemWise-Africa dans l’Architecture africaine de paix et de sécurité (APSA), […]

    Uncategorized
  • Can FemWise-Africa Make Mediation Work for Sustaining Peace?

    June 7, 2018by Youssef Mahmoud

    FemWise-Africa has an ambitious agenda which, in order to implement, will require challenging some of the foundational assumptions of mediation.

    Analysismediation, sustaining-peace
  • Can Peacebuilding Work for Sustaining Peace?

    April 10, 2018Youssef Mahmoud and Anupah Makoond

    A key question at this stage is how the gaps in the peacebuilding paradigm can best be addressed to foster greater ownership and effective implementation of the emerging concept of “sustaining peace.”

    Analysispeacebuilding, sustaining-peace
  • In Tunisia’s March Toward Women’s Rights, Finish Line Is in Sight

    August 17, 2017by Youssef Mahmoud

    The question of equality of inheritance between men and women has been a thorny and sensitive issue for decades and the reactions to the president’s speech ranged from support to indignation.

    Analysisnorth-africa, women-peace-and-security
  • Next →

This week

  • Wagner Group Poses Fundamental Challenges for the Protection of Civilians by UN Peacekeeping Operations

    March 20, 2023by Dirk Druet

    The Russian government-affiliated Wagner Group has gained widespread attention for its brutal tactics in the Central African Republic and Mali.

    Analysisafrica, peacekeeping, protection-of-civilians
  • Addressing Gender Bias to Achieve Ethical AI

    March 17, 2023by Ardra Manasi, Subadra Panchanadeswaran, and Emily Sours

    For AI to be ethical and be a vehicle for the common good, it needs to eliminate any explicit and implicit biases, including on the gender front.

    Analysistechnology

Trending

  • Future Peace Deal Not Just About Putin, Zelensky: Ukrainian People Get a Voice and a Vote

    March 8, 2023by William Partlett

    A stable peace deal requires the support of the Ukrainian people for both legal and political reasons.

    Analysisconflict, eastern-europe, peace-processes
  • Thinking Globally about the War in Ukraine: Three Takeaways from Munich

    March 3, 2023by Adam Lupel and Jenna Russo

    The war in Ukraine has demonstrated the solidarity of the international community, yet there is real work to be done to strengthen solidarity across regions.

    Analysiseurope, multilateralism, peace-and-security
  • Do People Trust the UN? A Look at the Data

    February 22, 2023by Albert Trithart and Olivia Case

    Survey data does not reveal a major, widespread drop in the UN’s legitimacy over the past few years.

    Analysismultilateralism, united-nations
  • Economy and Security on the Ballot in Nigeria’s Presidential Election: 5 Things to Watch

    February 17, 2023by Carl LeVan

    Voters in Africa’s largest democracy will go to the polls to pick a new president on Feb. 25, 2023.

    Analysisafrica, peace-and-security
  • After Agreement in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region, What Stands in the Way of Lasting Peace? 

    February 7, 2023by Hilary Matfess and Anne Lauder

    A peace deal between Tigrayan forces and the Ethiopian government signed in November 2022 raised hopes that the war in northern Ethiopia—one of the world’s deadliest conflicts in recent years—was finally drawing to a close.

    Analysisafrica, conflict, peace-processes
  • Climate Change in the Security Council: What New Council Members Can Achieve in 2023

    January 30, 2023by Adam Day, Janani Vivekananda, and Grazia Pacillo

    2023 could be a good year for advancing climate-related issues in the United Nations Security Council.

    Analysisclimate-change, peace-and-security, security-council
  • How Negotiations on Contingent-Owned Equipment Can Help “Green” UN Peacekeeping

    January 20, 2023by Emmanuelle Cousin and Daniel Forti 

    The UN General Assembly’s COE Working Group has a fork-in-the-road opportunity to advance UN Peacekeeping’s environmental goals.

    Analysisclimate-change, peacekeeping
  • How Useful Are the UN’s Broad Protection of Civilian Mandates?

    January 18, 2023by Alexander Gilder

    The UN should consider both the successes of the whole-of-mission approach and the pitfalls of its ever-burgeoning understanding of PoC.

    Analysispeacekeeping, protection-of-civilians
  • Investing in People and Enhancing Resilience for Sustaining Peace with Adaptive Peacebuilding

    January 17, 2023by Cedric de Coning, Rui Saraiva and Ako Muto

    Context-specific approaches to peacebuilding that empower local agency are key to the self-sustainability of peace processes.

    Analysispeacebuilding, sustaining-peace
  • Does the UN Need a More Coherent Approach Toward “De Facto” Authorities?

    January 6, 2023by Damian Lilly

    As a result of shifting dynamics in certain conflicts, as well as recent coups, the UN is having to engage with de facto authorities in a growing number of country contexts.

    Analysisunited-nations
  • The East African Community Steps into the Crisis in the DRC. Will It Help?

    December 12, 2022by Jenna Russo

    While the current crisis is unlikely to be resolved without military force, any hope for success requires that operations remain closely tied to a political process, and that neighboring countries remain accountable to support the security and sovereignty of the DRC.

    Analysisafrica, conflict
  • The Case for Integrating Sustaining Peace into an Expanded Climate, Peace and Security Concept

    November 23, 2022by Cedric de Coning and Hafsa M. Maalim

    Actions to address the effects of climate challenges can contribute to sustaining peace, while peacebuilding initiatives can, at times, also strengthen the capacity of communities to adapt to climate change.

    Analysisclimate2022, climate-change, sustaining-peace
  • The Securitization of Gender: A Primer

    October 11, 2022by Gretchen Baldwin and Taylor Hynes

    WPS advocates must not allow gender to be instrumentalized within hypermasculine, hypermilitarized, and over-securitized approaches to security.

    Analysiswomen-peace-and-security, wpsat22
  • Countering Right-wing Terrorism and Violent Extremism: Is There a Role For the UN?

    August 23, 2022by Naureen Chowdhury Fink & Michaela Millender

    The UN counterterrorism architecture was written broadly though its application has been largely focused on two groups: al-Qaeda and Daesh. With transnational dimensions growing in right-wing terrorism, is there a role for international organizations like the UN?

    Analysisterrorism, united-nations
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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 Climate Data Visualizations, 2021

    December 15, 2021by Noemi Florea

    Noemi Florea has compiled some key data visualizations from 2021 for the Global Observatory that highlight progress on climate change, from expanded research on the global environment to emerging developments for climate adaptation.

    Further Readingclimate-change, climate2021
  • 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

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