05 November 2025
Background
Multilateral conflict management and peace operations are in a state of flux. In the face of enormous challenges, the world is more divided than it has been for a long time. With the shift away from the global, rules-based order, governments have a broadening scope of conflict management approaches and norms, as well as geopolitical alliances, to choose from. At the same time, global development cooperation is decreasing dramatically and thus non-military resources for conflict management are limited. The new US administration is compounding this with a more isolationist foreign policy and major cuts to its international aid. Meanwhile, EU member states are focusing more on national defence; ad hoc coalitions and bilateral security interventions are on the rise; China and the Gulf States, for example, are taking on new mediation roles; and a broader question on the future of African-led peace operations looms. Amid these new developments, multilateral conflict management is becoming increasingly challenging, fragmented, deinstitutionalized, and militarized. Analysis of the challenges and opportunities, as well as dialogues about the future are urgently needed.
To this end, the New Geopolitics of Conflict Management initiative, a collaboration between the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), held two meetings – in Dakar and in Addis –to discuss the future of conflict management and peace operations, focusing on practical ways to adapt tools to respond to the challenges at hand.
While UN peace operations must adapt to rising global challenges, intensifying geopolitical polarisation, reduced funding and rapid reconfiguration of the world order, learning from past efforts remains essential for ensuring future effectiveness. From 2018-2025, the Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network (EPON)—a network of more than 40 research institutions and think tanks—undertook joint research studies into the effectiveness of specific peace operations and/or thematic mandate areas, publishing a total of 20 reports. In 2025, as an input for the comprehensive review of UN peace operations, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) and Norwegian Refugee Council’s Capacity (NORCAP) synthesised the findings of the EPON studies to generate meta-level insights into the key factors that influence the effectiveness and success of peace operations. The publication is enclosed as background reading.
This Peace Operations Review Week event features a presentation of the findings of both endeavours. Expert panels will explore how multilateral conflict management is evolving and what this means for efforts to sustain effective peace operations.
The event
Key issues discussed
The event examined how UN peace operations can remain effective amid rising geopolitical fragmentation, declining multilateralism, and tightening resources. Drawing on the new EPON meta-study synthesising 20 mission and thematic reviews, discussions centred on sustaining political support, adapting mandates to complex conflict realities, and ensuring people-centred and rights-based approaches. Participants debated how multilateral conflict management is being reshaped by regionalisation, militarisation, and disunity in the Security Council, underscoring the urgent need for innovation, learning from past missions, and redefining partnerships to maintain UN relevance and credibility in volatile geopolitical environments.
What is being done/to do about them
The EPON meta-study identified concrete ways to adapt peace operations: developing modular, scalable mission models; enhancing partnerships with regional organisations; integrating climate, digital and disinformation dimensions; and deepening host-state and community engagement. Participants stressed reinforcing political primacy, institutional learning, and the role of human rights. They called for sustained collaboration between the UN, research networks, and field practitioners to inform policy reforms. Strengthening planning, mobility, and rapid-response capacities, and aligning mandates with resources and local needs were highlighted as practical steps to enhance the agility and sustainability of future peace operations.
What implications emerged for the UNSC and UN HQ
Participants called for greater use of flexible mandating tools, integrated risk analysis, and joint compacts with host states to reinforce accountability. The Secretariat was encouraged to enable adaptive, data-driven planning, decentralise decision-making, and improve coordination with regional and financial institutions. Both United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and UN HQ were urged to institutionalise learning from past missions and strengthen collaboration with think-tanks and partners to shape realistic, politically viable, and context-responsive peace operation strategies.
In the context of the geopolitical and financial pressure on UN peace operations, future operations are likely to be trimmed down to essential functions to save costs, and this means that many of the multidimensional elements that used to be associated with UN peace operations, such as DDR, human rights, ROL, etc. will have to be undertaken by other parts of the UN system with voluntary funding. One implication is that there will need to be a special focus on coordination processes and mechanisms to ensure that such fragmented tasks are integrated into one overall strategy. There is also likely to be greater reliance on partnerships and parallel missions will thus become the norm, which will also further increase the need for robust coordination mechanisms.