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This article explores China's engagement with the development of norms on security in Africa, with particular attention to its changing post-conflict engagement. Applying the gradualism characteristic of its approach to policy formulation and implementation, the Chinese policymaking community is playing a key role in seeking to redefine the contemporary international approach to managing African security dilemmas. By reinterpreting concepts such as liberal peacebuilding, Chinese policymakers have begun a process of reframing established norms on security and development that are more in line with its principles and core interests. This agenda in the making has enabled the Chinese government to move beyond the constraints of a rhetoric rooted in non-interference in domestic affairs that prohibited involvement in African security issues to a set of practices that allows China to play a more substantive role in security on the continent. (China Q/GIGA)

Ist der Aufmarsch des "Islamischen Staates" zu stoppen? Was wird aus Syrien, was aus dem Irak? Prognosen für eine unberechenbare Region sind schwer zu stellen. Doch eins scheint sicher : ohne eine Machtteilung, die alle relevanten Kräfte einbindet, und ohne glaubwürdige Regierungen werden die politisch und identitär zerklüfteten Länder zerfallen. (IP)

United Nations peace operations are deployed in greater numbers to more difficult operating theatres in response to more complex conflict situations than ever before. More than 100,000 UN peacekeepers are deployed in missions mandated under Chapter VII of the UN Charter to use 'all necessary means' to protect civilians from direct harm as well as to achieve a host of other tasks such as supporting the (re)building of state institutions, facilitating humanitarian aid, and overseeing compliance with ceasefire agreements and political commitments. With increasing regularity, UN peacekeepers are instructed to complete these tasks in contexts where there is no peace to keep or where peace is fragile. To understand these changes, and the implications for UN peace operations, this article examines three key transformations: the emergence of the protection of civilians as a central mission goal (and accompanying principles of due diligence); a subtle move away from peacekeeping as an impartial overseer of peace processes towards the goal of stabilization; and a so-called 'robust turn' towards greater preparedness to use force. It identifies the challenges posed to contemporary UN peacekeeping operations by these transformations and evaluates the UN's efforts thus far to make peacekeeping fit for purpose in the twenty-first century, noting that while significant progress has been made in areas such as policy and guidance, force sustainment and deployment, and the application of force enablers, there remains a considerable way to go. (International Affairs (Oxford) / SWP)

Der Heilige Stuhl wirkt seit der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts an zentralen weltpolitischen Entscheidungen und Ereignissen mit. Dabei greift er auf außenpolitische Netzwerke sowie auf nicht-klassische Machtressourcen zurück. Seit dem Amtsantritt von Papst Franziskus ist die internationale Bedeutung des Heiligen Stuhls gewachsen. (KAS-Auslandsinformationen / SWP)