In the world of today, everything has to be measured, weighed and assessed. Businesses are judged by their profit; armies are judged by their success deterring or defeating enemies; development projects by their learning and contribution to poverty reduction. But what of diplomacy? How to measure diplomacy [...]
The new British government has initiated a Strategic Defence Review which is expected to report in 2025. And there is no doubt that – along with others - this is vital work. But what we have learned from contexts like Ukraine is that reliance on [...]
Recently, I have been prompted to think a bit about international efforts to grow African peace support capability, especially as the nature of peace support operations (PSO) appears to be evolving: Alongside the traditional (UN-led), the new kids on the block (AU-led), the alternative (region-led) there is a growing [...]
With the international media focussed very much on the crisis in Sudan, it is tempting to think that this is a local problem from which others can divorce themselves, pausing briefly only to help a few foreigners to leave. But far from being a surprise, what has [...]
Everyone knows what a Peace Support Operation (PSO) is – we’ve all seen it on TV. Intense deliberations in a high-level forum leading to a resolution by a representative international body to “do something”. Harried and sometimes exhausted looking negotiators ironing out wrinkles and soothing opposition. Discussions about [...]
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is an awkward beast. Looking for an identity and a purpose (despite the Dad’s Army like attempt to convey strategy and vision), it is still struggling with the implications of a merger more akin to pushing repelling magnets together whilst trying [...]
Time to put the red, white and blue at the disposal of a better world in which our shared values – currently much better articulated and enacted by Europe – deliver common benefit for all. Ukraine has set the cat amongst the pigeons. The war [...]
More questions than answers on the way forward for Tigray. But hope is not a good basis for strategic planning and wishing that the problem would go away is pointless. In such a context, results cannot be bought - rather grown over time. But the humanitarian clock [...]
After a period of exceptionalism, Tanzania's new President offers opportunities for change. But don't mistake an alignment of interests for an alignment of ideology. Be level headed and pragmatic about why and how change might happen in Tanzania. The opportunity now is to show that engagement can [...]
Following the merger of the FCO and DFID into a single Department to be known as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the task of integrating policy and programmes is underway. By all accounts, this task has taken on the characteristic of a number of choices – [...]