Mali at the cusp of UN peace operations reform
Cedric de Coning | 30 June 2025Whilst UN peacekeeping is more critical than ever, it is also under severe pressure. Peacekeeping numbers and costs are at an all-time high, with peacekeepers operating in more complex and dangerous environments than ever before. This has raised q...
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Peacebuilding complexity: blind spots, off-the-shelf solutions and false hope
Cedric de Coning | 18 August 2025In response to Seth Kaplan: shifting from externally designed to local solutions, and from seeing poverty as isolated to the periphery to it being interconnected with the global economy and its inequalities.
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Peacebuilding is essentially local
Cedric de Coning | 04 December 2024Complexity theory sheds light on the essential role of self-organization in sustainable peace consolidation
▶Cedric de Coning
Dr. Cedric de Coning(South Africa) heads the Peace Operations and Peacebuilding Research Group at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and he is also a Senior Advisor on Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding for ACCORD. He serves as Special Advisor to the Head of the Peace Support Operations Division of the African Union Commission. He is a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Group for the Peacebuilding Fund, and he is a member of the Expert Reference Group of the Global Thematic Consultation on Conflict, Violence and Disaster of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. He serves on the International Advisory Board of the African Civilian Response Capacity for Peace Support Operations (AFDEM), and he serves on the editorial boards of the journals Global Governance and Peacebuilding. Cedric has a Ph.D. in Applied Ethics from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Stellenbosch. Recent publications include: “Rising Powers and the Future of Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding” (November 2013), “Peacebuilding’s Inherent Contradictions” (March 2011); “Coherence & Coordination: The Limits of the Comprehensive Approach” (2011); and the Civilian Dimension of the African Standby Force (2010).