Opinions & Insights

Sustainable Development Goal 16 on peaceful and inclusive socieites has drawn some criticism, but here’s why many of those concerns are overstated.

Beyond China’s massive contribution to UN peacekeeping troops and the global peacekeeping budget, how will their increased role affect the nature of peacekeeping itself?

The study of individual beliefs and belief systems may have the potential to provide valuable insights into the drivers of many conflicts. But conflict prevention that is not systematic, self-critical and acknowledging of all of the other elements that may spawn conflict, has the potential to devolv...

Why is poverty reduction the ultimate goal of development, and what are the results of this focus? Guest author Elham Seyedsayamdost wrote this blog for OEF based on her research that was discussed at OEF's scholar-practitioner series at the UN.

One of the unintended consequences of the increasingly globalized world is the growth of international wildlife crime. This has led to a global crisis on the African continent that we should no longer ignore.

Promoting peace and human security on our planet will require us to overcome a multitude of obstacles, maintaining environmental sustainability not least among them.

Leaders found that mixing outreach with education can create the critical mass of support needed to drive a social change.

Knowing what we know, the answer to further reducing conflict seems to lie at the intersection of development and conflict.

We can draw inspiration from visionaries who, like Patrice Martin, can apply design to issues like poverty.

There are many questions we need to wrestle with if we want to seriously take on achieving a world beyond war. These are the central questions OEF asked a forum of global thought leaders to deliberate.

Any global development strategy benefits from collaboration, especially when dealing with issues of considerable complexity and scale. In this post, we discuss social network analysis (SNA) - a useful and adaptable research and evaluation method that can be used by non-profit organizations to assess...

If Myanmar’s government would need no pretext to roll back national political reforms, why might minority groups cause any provocation with escalating violence? OEF Research Jay Benson wrote this blog on the Wilson Center’s New Security Beat.

Local ownership of peacebuilding activities makes sense in theory, but is rarely put into practice in UN peace operations. Guest author Sarah von Billerbeck explains more in this blog based on her talk at OEF Research's scholar-practitioner series at the UN.

We live in the most peaceful time humans have ever known, but you would be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

World peace has a bad rap but the truth is, peace has been doing pretty well in the 85 years since World War II.

Some assume climate change will lead to increased conflict. Climate change is certainly a threat to the well-being and livelihoods of people around the world, but the relationship between climate and violent conflict is not as straightforward.