Recent High-Level Roundtable events in January and February, respectively, featured experts who explored different threats to human and global security in fragile settings--and the impact of these threats on stability and development interventions.

Benefitting from a highly interactive format, the events were moderated by Oliver Jütersonke, Head of Research at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP), and organized within the framework of the Executive Master in Development Policies and Practices (DPP).

The roundtables highlighted that insecurity should not only be associated with large-scale armed conflict, but rather should be conceived more broadly, to include a wide range of issues affecting peoples’ safety and the overall socio-economic development context.

This view includes the notions of fragility and resilience, which go beyond local conflict dynamics in aid-receiving societies and communities to include threats related to violence and terror, economic and environmental (in)security, and indeed public health debates. The latter is illustrated by the recent UN Security Council Resolution 2177, which declared the spread of the Ebola virus a “threat to international peace and security.” While the first roundtable (in January) examined the notion and sentiment of security and its different dimensions, the second roundtable (February) focused on security institutions and how these relate to development interventions.

Both roundtables brough together academics and leading pactitioner-experts for opinions about trends and their interpretations of the peace-security-development nexus.  The first roundtable focused on “Local vs. Global Approaches to Security Threats” and the second roundtable was entitled “Security Institutions: Strong States or Resilient Communities?”

Overall, this innovative roundtable series was well-received by the 2015 cohorts of the DPP, participating from Western Africa, Latin America, and Central and Southeast Asia, and also drew participation from the wider public.  It marked the first such collaborative, public roundtable event jointly sponsored by the Executive Master DPP and the CCDP, a relationship destined to be strengthened further through joint curriculum development.

For further questions or information about the panel series and Executive Education programmes, please contact Raphael Zaffran (Academic Coordinator, DPP Programme) (raphael.zaffran@graduateinstitute.ch) or William McDonald, Head of Programme Development & Outreach (william.mcdonald@graduateinstitute.ch)

For additional information about the research and activities of the CCDP, please visit the centre’s website or contact Aske Nørby Bonde (ccdp@graduateinstitute.ch).