SpongeBob ‘may impair concentration’ – What a load of nonsense!

New Borders, new names? – Notes from my radio appearance on Sunday (and there is more to come on this).

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Five Paradoxes of Peace Operation, by Richard Gowan (PDF): 1)  Military peacekeeping has grown in scale – yet lost operational impact. 2)  Peacekeeping is cheap – but it is also still too expensive. 3) All peace operations are political – but not all are guided by credible political strategies and few peacekeepers are good at politics. 4)  Peacekeepers promote democracy and justice – but democracy and justice don’t always promote peace. 5) Emerging non-Western powers play a major role in peacekeeping – but may not want it.

The first of its kind – a constitution-making handbook for peace: “A modern constitution needs to be legitimate in the eyes of the people, but achieving this is a challenge. Often national and international constitution-makers feel out in the cold as there has been no comprehensive resource on the options for constitution-making and reform. The design, implementation and management of these processes, in an inclusive way, create the foundations for lasting peace. The stakes are high. If the process goes wrong the seeds of future conflict and violence will be sown.”