The contemporary global system is characterised by the presence of a multitude of International Organisations (IOs) whose relevance is sustained by the roles they play. Among these IOs, the United Nations (UN) is of paramount importance as a result of its universal membership and extensive mandate. Its international role is influenced by its evolving structures, practices and goals. Among its most recent objectives are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which address the challenge of holistic human development at the global level. This study aims to assess the UN’s role in pursuing the MDGs as they relate to the development of children in West Africa. The first two of the eight goals have been selected for the purpose of focusing the research, namely the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, and the elimination of illiteracy by achieving universal primary education. Children, who bear the brunt of global underdevelopment and whose development is a key element in breaking cycles of poverty, are the focus of the study. The general and historical role played by the UN in advancing child development is therefore assessed with regards to the issue-fields indicated by the two selected MDGs. Specific application is then done in the case of West Africa, chosen as case study because the region is the poorest in the world and arguably indicative of most urgent MDG focus. Clive Archer’s analytical outline, which depicts IOs variously as instruments, arenas and actors, is used as a conceptual framework. Archer contends that IOs can be utilised as instruments by other global actors, serve as arenas for dialogue and cooperation among such actors and also assume proactive, independent identities as actors in pursuit of specific objectives. The study concludes that Archer’s framework is relevant, but that the existence of all three roles in the same functional space has notable and often contradictory implications. While the UN generally plays its roles as actor and arena in achieving its first two MDGs among West African children with relative ease, its role as instrument is dependent on the agendas and political will of other actors in the global system. Notwithstanding the weakness of its role as instrument, however, the UN’s triad of roles towards the development of children, and specifically children in West Africa, is a key element of the organisation’s global relevance. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

In the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States (U.S.), many states, responding to United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolutions, began to adopt an increased array of counter-terrorism measures.The Security Council had not in the beginning pre-empted the risk of counter-terrorism measures violating counter-terrorism human rights as it failed to immediately refer to states‟ duty to respect human rights in their responses to terrorism. It was only in 2003, in Resolution 1456, that the Security Council stated such duty by providing that „states must ensure that any measures taken to combat terrorism must comply with all their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law". / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2010. / Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Prof. Nii A. Kotey, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana. Ghana. 2010. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Almost four decades of decolonisation and independence of sub-Saharan Africa have been characterised by inter-state and intra-state conflict situations, denying the continent stability and development. The study critically examines the evolution of a vision for collaboration and cooperation on peace and security in the interface between the African Union and the United Nations. The post Cold War period allowed the institutionalisation of peace and security cooperation between the UN and regional organizations, in particular the AU. The analysis argues that regional stability has been elevated into one of the key indicators of possible threats to international peace and that regionalism recognised as a necessary component of multilateralism in maintaining peace and security in the world. The UN Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Council have developed a structured relationship that ensures information exchange on issues on common concern. Africa is assuming responsibility ad ownership of its peace and security problems by seeking to find solutions in partnership. The complementarity and comparative advantage of the two organizations has contributed to the emerging continental stability, state institution building, governance structures and African Peace and Security Architecture. The 2000 AU Constitutive Act and the 2002 AU Peace and Security Protocol had purposefully entrenched collaboration with the United Nations on peace and security. The signing of the 2006 Declaration Enhancing UN-AU Cooperation provides the framework and compass for building the AU capacity and access to resources. The evolving peace and security cooperation is not an easy matter as African leadership seeks to convince the international community, especially the UNSC, not to be indifferent to Africa’s perennial prevalence of conflicts. AU and UN peace and security cooperation is in its infancy, African leadership political will is the key to its consolidation. / Dissertation (MDiplomatic Studies)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

The purpose of this research project is to examine the role of conflict resolution in training programmes for military peacekeepers. It offers a significant contribution to the conflict resolution literature by providing contemporary analysis of where further manifestations exist of the links between military peacekeeping and the academic study of conflict resolution. The thesis firstly provides a thorough analysis of where conflict resolution scholars have sought to critique and influence peacekeeping. This is mirrored by a survey of policy stemming from the United Nations (UN) in the period 1999-2010. The thesis then undertakes a survey of the role of civil-military cooperation: an area where there is obvious crossover between military peacekeeping and conflict resolution terminology. This is achieved firstly through an analysis of practitioner reports and academic research into the subject area, and secondly through a fieldwork analysis of training programmes at the UN Training School Ireland, and Royal Military Training Academy 4 Sandhurst (RMAS). The thesis goes on to provide a comprehensive examination of the role of negotiation for military peacekeepers. This examination incorporates a historical overview of negotiation in the British Army, a sampling of peacekeeping literature, and finally fieldwork observations of negotiation at RMAS. The thesis discusses how this has impacted significantly on conceptions of military peacekeepers from both the military and conflict resolution fields. The thesis adds considerably to contemporary debates over cosmopolitan forms of conflict resolution. Firstly it outlines where cosmopolitan ethics are entering into military training programmes, and how the emergence of institutionalised approaches in the UN to 'human security' and peacebuilding facilitate this. Secondly, the thesis uses Woodhouse and Ramsbotham's framework to link the emergence of cosmopolitan values in training programmes to wider structural changes at a global level.

On its own, Kosovo has neither come to where it is today nor could it move any forward in the near future. The role of the international community and especially that of the EU is crucial in helping Kosovo overpass some of the current barriers and become a truly European state, instead of just another state in Europe. Therefore, from a state-building perspective, this paper strives to shed some light on the process of state-building in Kosovo and the role of the international involvement during this past decade.

Globalisation and the transfer of powers from state constitutional systems to international organisations (IOs) have led to several deficiencies, especially with regard to checks and balances in global governance. The need to inculcate the rule of law and constitutionalism in global governance has therefore gained currency in the 21st century. This has been exemplified by calls for the reform of the United Nations (UN) and the extensive reforms in regional IOs, such as the European Union (EU), with emphasis on institutional balance and the tempering of political power with institutional controls. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2010. / A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Jacqui Gallinetti Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa. 2010. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The purpose of this research project is to examine the role of conflict resolution in training programmes for military peacekeepers. It offers a significant contribution to the conflict resolution literature by providing contemporary analysis of where further manifestations exist of the links between military peacekeeping and the academic study of conflict resolution. The thesis firstly provides a thorough analysis of where conflict resolution scholars have sought to critique and influence peacekeeping. This is mirrored by a survey of policy stemming from the United Nations (UN) in the period 1999-2010. The thesis then undertakes a survey of the role of civil-military cooperation: an area where there is obvious crossover between military peacekeeping and conflict resolution terminology. This is achieved firstly through an analysis of practitioner reports and academic research into the subject area, and secondly through a fieldwork analysis of training programmes at the UN Training School Ireland, and Royal Military Training Academy 4 Sandhurst (RMAS). The thesis goes on to provide a comprehensive examination of the role of negotiation for military peacekeepers. This examination incorporates a historical overview of negotiation in the British Army, a sampling of peacekeeping literature, and finally fieldwork observations of negotiation at RMAS. The thesis discusses how this has impacted significantly on conceptions of military peacekeepers from both the military and conflict resolution fields. The thesis adds considerably to contemporary debates over cosmopolitan forms of conflict resolution. Firstly it outlines where cosmopolitan ethics are entering into military training programmes, and how the emergence of institutionalised approaches in the UN to ¿human security¿ and peacebuilding facilitate this. Secondly, the thesis uses Woodhouse and Ramsbotham¿s framework to link the emergence of cosmopolitan values in training programmes to wider structural changes at a global level.

No / This edited volume takes stock of the state of research and policy on the issue of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), ten years after the UN first agreed to deal with the problem. The end of the Cold War originated a series of phenomena that would subsequently come to dominate the political agenda. Perhaps most symptomatic of the ensuing environment is the marked escalation in the scale and dynamics of armed violence, driven by the proliferation of SALW. Events in Rwanda, Somalia and Bosnia seared into global consciousness the devastating effects of this phenomenon, and of the necessity to engage actively in its limitation and prevention. This edited volume explores and outlines the research and policy on the SALW issue at this critical juncture. In addition to providing a detailed telling of the genesis and evolution of SALW research and advocacy, the volume features a series of essays from leading scholars in the field on both advances in research and action on SALW. It reflects on what has been achieved in terms of cumulative advances in data, methodology and analysis, and looks at the ways in which these developments have helped to inform policy making at national, regional and international levels. Alongside situating and integrating past and present advances in advocacy and international action, Controlling Small Arms also outlines future directions for research and action.

By adopting a multilevel approach to understanding decisions taken in security and defence policies by European member states, the paper argues that the development of the European Security and Defence Policy, the proliferation of ad-hoc coalitions of the willing, and the subcontracting of security tasks from the UN has worsened the challenge of parliamentary accountability in foreign, security and defence policies. The paper evaluates how the European Convention has sought to bridge the parliamentary accountability gap in Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and in European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The outcomes of the Convention on the future of Europe are not meeting its initial ambition to put foreign, security and defence policy among the priorities for the European Union¿s constitutional design. CFSP will become more integrated, on an intergovernmental rather than supranational model and under the large states¿ control. The major innovation is the creation of the position of Foreign Affairs Minister whose autonomy remains still uncertain, especially in his/her relationship with the President of the European Council. ESDP¿s operational capabilities and scope are both extended while coalitions of the willing are institutionalised and a defence core group could emerge. The contrast remains between a slower integration of CFSP and a faster progress of ESDP. Given the significance of proposals in ESDP, the new powers proposed by the European Convention to be given to national parliaments and the European Parliament in this policy area are too weak to close the existing parliamentary accountability gap.

World leaders, policy makers, and scholars are engaged in efforts to improve human development (HD), which, for the United Nations (UN) Development Program, is about allowing people choices in their lives and providing tools with which to make those choices. Success in increasing human development will impact the daily lives of a nation's citizens as well as contribute to success in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): eight shared UN goals to improve living conditions of people around the world. The information currently available to those seeking to enhance human development measures focuses on a macro-level approach that advocates first advancing national economic development. Recent research on meeting the MDGs focuses on micro-level individual or community activities. Entrepreneurial and microfinance activity are two such micro-level activities that have been associated in research with advances in national economic development. Microfinance, particularly microcredit, activities have been associated in research with advances in some human development measures. Similar research concerning how entrepreneurial activity may relate directly to human development is lacking. This research project was designed to examine the relationships of these individual activities with human development independent of economic development. Two questions guided this study: (a) Does individual activity (either entrepreneurial or microfinance) have a direct effect on human development, separate from any effect through economic development and (b) If so, do certain types of individual activity (either entrepreneurial or microfinance) have a stronger relationship with some human development measures more than others? Due to data challenges, the scope of this research was restricted to a retrospective study examining measures of entrepreneurial activity with measures of human development. A similar exploration involving microfinance activity is planned for the future. A literature search and content analysis were conducted to determine definitions and measures. Data on nine measures were collected from 44 nations. Analyses indicated that one measure of entrepreneurial activity (own account workers-individuals owning or operating an enterprise, but hiring no employees) does have a statistically significant relationship with one measure of human development (literacy). Guidelines are also offered from lessons learned in navigating the disparate maze of conceptual and measurement issues when researching this territory. With several years remaining in the UN Millennium Development Challenge and the UN Decade of Literacy, this research may have implications for policy makers and world leaders as they seek ways to improve both economic and human development simultaneously. / Ph. D.