Timeline: 2020-2024
Funding organisation: SNSF (PRIMA Grant)
Associated project: Coherence or Contestation: Chinese, Japanese and Russian Approaches to the Transformation of Peacebuilding Practices
Associated website: Our dataset on UN peace missions is published here (for background on the dataset, watch this video). Download the UN Peace Missions App on the App Store and Google Play.
The project develops a mid-level theory on how world politics influence peacebuilding and thereby contributes to International Relations theories and peace research. By providing a macro-perspective on peacebuilding, it ultimately helps to render it more effective in addressing contemporary conflicts.
UN peacebuilding is at a watershed, sadly illustrated by its failure to adequately address contemporary conflicts, such as in Libya, Syria, and Yemen. In the years immediately following the end of the Cold War, there was a consensus within the international community that peace operations needed to address root causes of conflicts and thus have extensive mandates, including the rebuilding of a liberal state. In recent years, this consensus has waned and different approaches to peacebuilding compete.
This turning point in UN peacebuilding can be understood as part of broader changes in world politics. The increasing influence of Russia and China, as well as regional rising powers, such as Brazil, India, and Turkey, challenge US domination in world politics. The proposed project inquires into how this shift from a unipolar to a multipolar world order influences UN peacebuilding. It establishes a dataset on UN peace missions since the end of the Cold War to analyze how they have changed. It then conducts an in-depth study of the link between world politics and UN peace missions. It does so through a content analysis of UN policy documents regarding peacebuilding and an in-depth study of six cases, namely the UN peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, and South Sudan and the UN political missions in Libya, Syria, and Yemen.
The project’s findings will be disseminated in journal articles, one edited special issue, presentations at scientific conferences, and in a PhD dissertation. Moreover, a policy paper on each case study will be published and a workshop held to disseminate the findings amongst practitioners.
This project is funded through a PRIMA grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). This prestigious grant is aimed at excellent women researchers who show a high potential for obtaining a professorship.
November: The team launched the UN Peace Missions App. Download it here: App Store and Google Play
November: The team launched the UN Peace Missions Website. Check it out here: www.peacemissions.info
November: The team hosted an exhibition on UN Peace Missions at Geneva Peace Week, Link
November: Sara Hellmüller spoke at a panel on the future of UN peace and security engagements, at Geneva Peace Week, Link
October: Fanny Badache launched her co-edited book on International Organizations and Research Methods. Recording available here.
October: Bilal Salayme participated in the GCSP Workshop "Outlook and Opportunities in the MENA Region: Analytics and Options for the Swiss MENA Strategy
October: Sara Hellmüller spoke at an event organized by ETH Zürich entitled “Mediation Exchanges: Where is the UN heading?”
October: Sara Hellmüller co-published a forum article in International Peacekeeping on “UN Peacekeeping at 75: Achievements, Challenges, and Prospects”, Link.
September: Marie Holch joined the project team as Student Researcher.
September: Bilal Salayme and Fanny Badache presented their work at the 6th Peace and Security Conference at the University of Manchester.
September: Sara Hellmüller’s book “Partners for Peace: The Interaction between Local and International Actors in Peacebuilding” is now also available in German: Link.
September: Bilal Salayme wrote an op-ed on the latest protests in the South of Syria (in Arabic) Link.
September: Sara Hellmüller published a new article on “Knowledge Production on Mediation: Practice-Oriented, but not Practice-Relevant?”, in International Affairs, Link.
September: Sara Hellmüller co-edited a special issue on “Knowledge Production on Peace: Actors, Hierarchies, and Policy Relevance”, in International Affairs, Link.
August: Fanny Badache published a co-edited volume on research methods and international organizations with the University of Michigan Press, available in open access Link.
July: The whole team participated in the European Workshops in International Studies at the University of Amsterdam.
June: Sara Hellmüller participated in a conference on “Conference on UN Peacekeeping at 75“ organized by the Center for Security Studies, ETH Zürich.
June: Sara Hellmüller was interviewed by the newspaper Republik on Switzerland’s presidency of the UN Security Council (in German), Link.
June: Fanny Badache gave a talk on "Regulating the researcher-participant relationship" in the Ethics Review Workshop at the European University Institute.
June: Bilal Salaymeh commented on the Jordnain Initiative for the Syrian peace process on the Syrian News Website EnabBaladi (in Arabic), Link.
June: Bilal Salaymeh was interviewed by 'Geneva Solution' on the latest developments in the Syrian peace process, Link.
May : Sara Hellmüller and Bilal Salaymeh published a paper, "Multiparty mediation in a changing world: the emergence and impact of parallel processes to UN peacemaking in Syria and Libya”, in International Journal of Conflict Management, Link.
May: Bilal Salaymeh participated in a workshop "Towards a Post Middle East international politics?" at the University of Oxford, Link.
May 2023 – December 2024: Funding by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Agora) for a project to develop a website and mobile app and host a roving pop-up exhibition on UN peace missions.
April: Fanny Badache gave a talk on « Peacekeeping in a new world order » at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute.
April: Bilal Salayme published a book review, 'Syria Betrayed: Atrocities, War, and the Failure of International Diplomacy' in the International Peacekeeping Journal. Link.
April: Bilal Salayme published a review article, 'Hamas: Isolated, Contained, but not Co-opted?' in Insight Turkey Journal. Link.
March: Sara Hellmüller, Xiang-Yun Rosalind Tan and Corinne Bara published the article “What is in a Mandate: Introducing the Dataset on UN Peace Mission Mandates” in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Link.
March: Fanny Badache published a special issue (with Leah Kimber) on « Anchoring International Organizations in Organizational Sociology » in the Swiss Journal of Sociology. Link.
March: Fanny Badache, Sara Hellmüller and Bilal Salayme presented their work at the International Studies Association 64th annual convention in Montreal (Canada).
March-June: Fanny Badache is a visiting fellow at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute.
February: Sara Hellmüller teaches two courses in the MINT programme of the Geneva Graduate Institute in the spring semester: One course on “Going to “the Field”: Ethics, Risks, and Practicalities of Research in Conflict-Affected Contexts” and one course on “Diversity in Peacebuilding: Women and Civil Society Inclusion.”
February: Sara Hellmüller moderates a lunch briefing on the war in Ukraine at the Geneva Graduate Institute, Link.
February: Fanny Badache, Bilal Salayme, and Sara Hellmüller presented their research at the Annual Congress of the Swiss Political Science Association.
February: Sara Hellmüller co-chaired the Peace and Security Working Group at the Annual Congress of the Swiss Political Science Association.
January: Bilal Salayme presented a paper at the Annual Palestine Forum at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar.
January: Bilal Salayme gave a lecture (online) for the master's students in International Migration and Refugee Studies at Birzeit University.
January: Bilal Salayme was the discussant for the CCDP seminar on 'Armed Groups Origins and the Transformation in Civil War ', Link.
January: Sara Hellmüller taught two one-day sessions on mediation in English and French in the Executive Master in Development Policies and Practices.
January: Sara Hellmüller, together with Dr. Lucile Maertens (University of Lausanne) secured funding from the Fondation pour l’Université de Lausanne for a project “Promoting sustainability in the UN Security Council: The role of Switzerland as an elected member.”
January: Sara Hellmüller, Marie Lobjoy, and Xiang-Yun Rosalind Tan published an article entitled “Beyond Generations: A New Approach to Categorizing Peace Missions” in Global Governance, Link.
January: Bilal Salayme commented on the rapprochement between Turkey and the Syrian regime, Link.
December: Sara Hellmüller presented a paper on “Security Conceptualizations and UN Peace Missions” at the School of Economics and Political Science at the University of St. Gallen.
December: Sara Hellmüller gave an input on “UN Security Council Politics and Switzerland” at the Mistra Geopolitics PhD workshop at Stockholm University together with Dr. Lucile Maertens.
December: Sara Hellmüller gave an input and moderated a discussion on “The Future of Peace Mediation” at the Geneva Graduate Institute Alumni Event in Bern.
November: Fanny Badache published an article on legitimacy in international organizations in Global Studies Quarterly, Link.
November: Bilal Salayme moderated a panel on the political impasse in Libya, Link.
November: Bilal Salayme gave a lecture for the master course on 'Development et action humanitaire' at Paris 1 or Panthéon-Sorbonne University.
November: Fanny Badache, Sara Hellmüller and Bilal Salayme published an article on the UN role in peacebuilding in Contemporary Security Policy, Link.
November: Fanny Badache, Sara Hellmüller and Bilal Salayme published a blog post on “UN Peacebuilding in a Multipolar World Order”, Link.
November: Fanny Badache traveled to Paris and New York to conduct in-person interviews for the research project.
November: Bilal published a policy brief "Libya, Back to Square One?", Link.
November: Sara Hellmüller and Rosalind Tan published Version 1.5 of the United Nations Peace Missions Datasets, Link.
October-December: Sara Hellmüller is an academic visitor at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford.
October: Bilal commented on the status of Syria at the latest Arab League Summit (in Arabic), Link.
October: Sara Hellmüller participated in the Oxford Colloquium on International Mediation and Armed Conflict, University of Oxford.
October: Sara Hellmüller gave two interviews to the Swiss National Radio (SRF 3) on the Nobel Peace Prize.
September: Bilal participated in a round table on Syria at the Stimson Center Middle East and North Africa Program.
September: Fanny Badache participated in a discussion about UN peacekeeping and Switzerland's role in it on RTS, Link.
August: Fanny Badache, Sara Hellmüller, and Bilal Salayme published a dataset gathering all peace-related speeches by the P5 (France, UK, USA, Russian Federation and China) as well as Brazil, South Africa and Turkey in the UNSC (UNSCPeaS), Link.
July/August: Sara Hellmüller taught at the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Summer Course on the UN in a Changing World, giving an input on UN Security Council Diplomacy.
July: The project team now has a Twitter handle. Follow us! Link.
June: Sara Hellmüller co-moderated a workshop on “The impact of geopolitical competition on armed conflict and peace mediation” organised by ETH Zürich, MAS Mediation.
June: Bilal Salayme presented his working paper "From Monopoly to Oligopoly of Violence, the Reconfiguration of Political Order in Northern Syria" at the CCDP Seminar Series.
June: Flavia Keller joined the project team as Student Researcher.
May: Sara Hellmüller discussed her article on trans-scalar peacebuilding with Cooperation and Conflict editor-in-chief Annika Björkdahl and Susanne Buckley-Zistel (University of Marburg) and Gearoid Millar (University of Aberdeen), Link.
May: Sara Hellmüller participated in a discussion on NATO and neutrality by Swissinfo, Link.
May: Sara Hellmüller taught on “Peacebuilding and peacekeeping” for the Graduate Institute’s Executive Master in International Negotiation and Policy-Making.
April: Sara Hellmüller and Rosalind Tan published Version 1.4 of the United Nations Peace Missions Datasets. V1.4 entails the largest set of changes to the UNPMM data, Link.
April: Sara Hellmüller published an article on “Peacemaking in a shifting world order: A macro-level analysis of UN mediation in Syria” in the Review of International Studies, Link (see short blog entry here).
April: Sara Hellmüller gave a guest lecture at the University de Lausanne on “Produire des normes.”
April: Sara Hellmüller spoke at an event on “Peacebuilding in the current geopolitical environment,” organised by swisspeace in Basel.
April: Bilal Salayme presented his working paper "From Monopoly to Oligopoly of Violence, the Reconfiguration of Political Order in Northern Syria" at the CCDP Seminar Series.
March: Sara Hellmüller was interviewed by sciences.lu on how to make peace, Link.
March: Sara Hellmüller participated in a Town Hall meeting on the War in Ukraine at the Graduate Institute, Link.
February: Sara Hellmüller published an entry in The Global entitled “Re-establishing congruence: UN peacebuilding in a shifting world order,” Link.
February: Fanny Badache was elected at-large member of the International Studies Association’s IO section Executive Committee.
February: Sara Hellmüller co-chaired the peace and security working group at the SPSA 2022 Conference.
February: Sara Hellmüller and Xiang-Yun Rosalind Tan (with Corinne Bara) presented their paper at SPSA 2022 Conference: What is in a Mandate? Introducing the Dataset on United Nations Peace Mission Mandates (UNPMM).
February: Bilal Salayme, Sara Hellmüller and Fanny Badache presented their paper at the 2022 SPSA Conference: Rising Powers and Re-Conceptualizing Sovereignty in Changing Global Politics.
January: Sara Hellmüller spoke about her work with Persuasive Discourse, Link.
January: Fanny Badache co-edited a special issue on « Time and Space in the Study of International Organizations » in Global Policy, Link.
January: Sara Hellmüller published a paper in Cooperation and Conflict entitled “A trans-scalar approach to peacebuilding and transitional justice: Insights from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Link.
December: Sara Hellmüller participated in a workshop on “Rethinking Inclusive Peace Processes in Times of Global Systemic Crisis and Social Change” organised by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).
November: Sara Hellmüller and Rosalind Tan published Version 1.3 of the United Nations Peace Missions Datasets, Link.
November: Sara Hellmüller spoke on “norms and norm change” at the event “Pizza, Philosophy and Science” organised by Reatch.
November: Sara Hellmüller participated in a conference on “Mediators as Gatekeepers” organized by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).
November: Sara Hellmüller participated in a research-practitioner dialogue on “Effective Mediation” organized by Folke Bernadotte Academy.
November: Bilal Salayme participated in the Arab-Turkish Relations Conference and presented the paper "the Impact of the Turkish post-conflict stabilization model on the local Arab political order", at Qatar University - Ibn Khaldoun Center, Link.
October: Sara Hellmüller and Rosalind Tan published Version 1.2 of the United Nations Peace Missions Datasets, Link.
September: Sara Hellmüller gave an interview for Geneva Solutions on the Syrian Peace Process, Link.
September: Bilal Salayme published an op-ed tackling the upcoming election in Libya and the possible candidacy of Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, link.
September: Bilal Salayme participated in EISA Annual Conference and presented the co-authored paper "Legitimation of the UN's Role in Peacebuilding in a Changing World Order."
September: Sara Hellmüller published a review article on „Normen in der Mediation: Analyse und Ausblick” in the Zeitschrift für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, Vol. 10 (1). Link here.
September: Sara Hellmüller participated in a conference on “Contested Norms of International Peace and Security Law” organised by the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg.
September: Fanny Badache was the co-chair of the section « 21st century International Organizations: Power, Politics and Global Policy-Making » at the 2021 ECPR General Conference.
August: Bilal Salayme was interviewed by Al-Jazeera Mubasher Channel on possible Turkish policies in Afghanistan, link.
August: Sara Hellmüller gave a guest lecture on “The Maintenance of Peace and Security” at the Graduate Institute’s Summer Programme on the United Nations in a Changing World.
July: Bilal Salayme published an op-ed about UN Security Council Resolution 2585 - in Arabic: Has Russia imposed its will on the humanitarian aids to Syria? Link here.
June: Fanny Badache presented a paper at the Annual Congress of the Academic Council of the United Nations System (ACUNS).
June: Fanny Badache organised two panels on « Anchoring International Organizations in Organization Sociology » at the Annual Congress of the Swiss Sociological Association.
June: Fanny Badache is co-editing a special issue on « Anchoring International Organizations in the Study of Organization Sociology » in the Swiss Journal of Sociology. Deadline: 01.09.21. More information here.
June: Fanny Badache published a review of the book « Les langues du pouvoir. Le plurilinguisme au sein de l’administration fédérale » in the Swiss Political Science Review. Link here.
June: Marie Lobjoy participated in a panel discussion on R2P terminology across UN languages at 5th Responsibility to Protect in Theory and Practice Conference.
June: Sara Hellmüller participated in a conference on “Norms and Peace: Pathways out of Intrastate Violence” organised by the University of Kiel.
June: Bilal Salayme published an analysis on the latest developments in Palestinian politics and Palestinian/Israeli conflict - in Turkish: "Filistin’de Bloklaşma Ötesi Bir Ayaklanma" (Palestine, an Uprising Beyond Blocks). Link here.
June: Bilal Salayme published an op-ed about Berlin-2 Conference on Libya - in Arabic: Why we shouldn't bet on Berlin-2 Conference to solve the Libyan crisis? Link here.
June: Bilal Salayme published a Book Review "İki Darbe Arasında: Türkiye Suriye Politikası (1960-1980) [Between Two Coups: Turkey’s Syria Policy (1960-1980)]" in Insight Turkey Journal Vol. 23, No 2. Link here.
May: Sara Hellmüller gave a guest lecture on “Promotion de la paix entre le local et l’international” at the Global Studies Institute at the University of Geneva.
May: Fanny Badache presented a paper at the workshop « The Legitimation of International Organisations in Disruptive Times » during the ECPR Joint Sessions.
April: Bilal Salayme was interviewed live by Al-Jazeera Mubasher on a potential Egyptian-Turkish rapprochement.
April: Marie Lobjoy participated in a panel discussion on humanitarian civil-military coordination (UN-CMCoord) analysis at the Human Networks & Partnerships Weeks.
April: Bilal Salayme wrote an op-ed for TRT Arabi, on the establishment of the Qatari-Turkish-Russian mechanism on the Syrian track. Link here.
April: Sara Hellmüller published a paper on consent to mediation in internationalized civil wars in International Negotiation. Link here.
April: Sara Hellmüller participated in a high-level panel on Syria at the EU Community of Practice on Peace Mediation 2021 event.
April: Sara Hellmüller and Bilal Salayme engaged in a conversation with UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, on Multilateralism in the 21st century on the occasion of the International Day of Multilateralism. Link here.
April: Fanny Badache and Sara Hellmüller presented papers at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association. Sara Hellmüller was co-chair of program for the Peace Studies Section.
April: Sara Hellmüller was interviewed by Swissinfo for an article on Swiss policy to promote women. Link here.
March: Sara Hellmüller and Rosalind Tan published Version 1.1 of the United Nations Peace Missions Datasets, Link.
March: Bilal Salayme was a discussant in the join event of CCDP and the University of Neuchâtel 'Borders in the Middle East: Past and Present'.
March: Bilal Salayme gave a lecture on 'Turkey in the Middle East', for a Masters course at the International University in Geneva.
March: Sara Hellmüller gave a lecture on UN Peace Operations in a Changing World Order at the Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo.
March: Sara Hellmüller was interviewed on UN Peace Missions by the Swiss National Radio station (SRF) for their program Echo der Zeit. Link here.
February: Sara Hellmüller and Rosalind Tan established Version 1.0 of the United Nations Peace Missions Datasets.
February: Fanny Badache and Sara Hellmüller presented papers during the Annual Congress of the Swiss Political Science Association. Sara Hellmüller was co-chair of the Peace and Security Working Group.
February: Sara Hellmüller became a member of Swiss Women in Peace Processes (SWiPP), a network of 15 women working on peace processes created by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Link here.
January: Fanny Badache joined the project team as Postdoctoral Researcher.
December: Sara Hellmüller, together with co-authors Jamie Pring and Oliver Richmond, published an article entitled "How Norms Matter in Mediation: An Introduction" in the Swiss Political Science Review. Link here.
November: Sara Hellmüller published a chapter entitled "Civil Society Inclusion in Peace Mediation," in The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Link here.
November: Sara Hellmüller published a chapter entitled "DR Congo: Local and International Peacebuilders’ Interaction," in The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Link here.
October: Sara Hellmüller gave a training on “Mediation: The Case of Syria” to Syrian Women mandated by swisspeace and NOREF.
October: Sara Hellmüller published an article entitled "Meaning‐Making in Peace‐Making: The Inclusion Norm at the Interplay between the United Nations and Civil Society in the Syrian Peace Process," in the Swiss Political Science Review. Link here.
October: Sara Hellmüller published a chapter entitled "Mediation," in The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Link here.
September: Bilal Salayme joined the project team as Research Assistant. Bilal is pursuing a PhD in International Relations/Political Science at the Graduate Institute. His research interests include authoritarianism, regime change, armed non-state actors, and armed conflict and peacebuilding.
September: Sara Hellmüller presented a paper on the research project at the annual workshop of the working group on empirical methods of the German Association for Peace and Conflict Studies. Link here.
September: Sara Hellmüller presented preliminary findings of the dataset on UN peace operations at the conference "Politics after War: Reexamining Dilemmas of Peacebuilding in the Era of Trump and COVID." Link here.
August: Sara Hellmüller published a chapter entitled "The Role of Civil Society Actors in Peacemaking and Peacebuilding," in The Routledge Handbook of Peace, Security and Development. Link here.
May: Marie Lobjoy joined the project team as Student Researcher. Marie is pursuing a Master in International Affairs at the Graduate Institute. Her research interests include critical security studies and military interventionism in the MENA and Sahel regions.
April: We are recruiting a post-doctoral student to work on the project (application deadline: 12/06/2020). Link here.
March: Sara Hellmüller gave an interview to the German news channel ZDF on the Idlib ceasefire concluded between Russia and Turkey. Link here.
March: Rosalind Tan joined the project team as Student Researcher. Rosalind is pursuing a Master in International Affairs at the Graduate Institute. Her research interests include postcolonial critical theory, discourse analysis and illiberal peacebuilding.
February: Sara Hellmüller presented the research project at the Annual Congress of the Swiss Political Science Association. Link here.
January: Sara Hellmüller received a SNSF Flexibility Grant for the entire duration of the project.
Richard Caplan, Professor of International Relations, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford
Cedric de Coning, Senior Research Fellow, Research Group on Peace, Conflict and Development, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)
Lise Morjé Howard, Associate Professor of Government and International Relations Field Chair, Georgetown University
Daniel Hyslop, Director of Policy, Learning and the International Peacebuilding Advisory Team (IPAT), Interpeace
Katia Papagianni, Director of Policy and Mediation Support, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
Roland Paris, Professor of International Affairs, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa
