My colleague Nicholas Bodanac and I have been working on this for about a year now, and we finally have a published version of our paper where we argue that a digital turn in peacekeeping can have positive economic effects in post-conflict settings. It's currently online at International Peacekeeping - anyone who wants the full … Continue reading Peacekeeping’s Digital Economy: New article in International Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping tech with Dr. Walter Dorn
I got to interview Dr. Walter Dorn of Canadian Forces College about his work on technology and peacekeeping for my TechChange course on technology for conflict management and peacebuilding - a good interview that lends some operational and political insight for using these tools in peacekeeping settings!
Learnings from ISA
Another March, another ISA conference. 2014 has been good, especially since the networking and socializing was matched by excellent feedback on what I presented. The highlights: What I thought was a failed experiment in getting Twitter to love me actually teased out some interesting methodological challenges that other panelists on the Crowdsourcing Violence panel faced. … Continue reading Learnings from ISA
Headed to Toronto soon…
I'll be at the International Studies Association annual convention from March 26-30 presenting two papers (never again will I submit two abstracts for papers that have to be written from scratch...) on Crowdsourcing methodology and technology in peacekeeping operations. Should be a lot of fun - feel free to give me feedback on the papers … Continue reading Headed to Toronto soon…
Disaggregating Peacekeeping Data: A new dataset on peacekeeping contributions
Jacob Kathman at the University of Buffalo has an article in the current issue of Conflict Management and Peace Science about his new dataset on the numbers and nationalities of all peacekeeper contributions by month since 1990. This is a pretty fantastic undertaking since peacekeeping data is often difficult to find, and no small feat … Continue reading Disaggregating Peacekeeping Data: A new dataset on peacekeeping contributions
Peacekeeping, economic growth and technology
The economics of peacekeeping are difficult to unpack but there are signs that when a mission has a strategy that includes long-range economic planning, it can have positive long term effects on the host country’s economy. This could help us understand the strategic value of communication technology as not just a tool for good governance … Continue reading Peacekeeping, economic growth and technology
Complex Peacekeeping and Tech: Don’t forget the politics and the people
General H.R. McMaster recently published an op-ed in the New York Times on the folly of thinking war can be easily won, and the intellectual gymnastics policy makers will do to maintain that illusion. As I read his analysis, many of his observations are germane when thinking about the drive to "tech-up" peacekeeping operations. McMaster's … Continue reading Complex Peacekeeping and Tech: Don’t forget the politics and the people
China to United States: We’ll see your “investment” and raise you a peacekeeping deployment
How apropos that my last post was focused on why the United States needs to think of investment in Africa in terms larger than ROI, especially if we want to compete with China. Apparently China got the memo, since they're committing to send a multi-dimensional peacekeeping force to support the MINUSMA mission in Mali that … Continue reading China to United States: We’ll see your “investment” and raise you a peacekeeping deployment
New look, new content
Greetings readers! You'll notice that the site looks quite different, and indeed has a new title. This is because my coursework in my Ph.D. program has ended, and I've moved into a new phase of my research and professional life: preparing to write a dissertation. Calvin sums this process up perfectly: With all this in … Continue reading New look, new content
MONUSCO Gets an Offensive Boost
The ongoing peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the largest in the world numbering 20,000 operators, is about to get an increase in its total number of soldiers. Two thousand South African, Malawian, and Tanzanian soldiers will be deploying this summer with a mandate to seek out and engage militias operating in the … Continue reading MONUSCO Gets an Offensive Boost
Charles P. Martin-Shields 