GPPi presents book on UN peace operations in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

On October 6 and October 10, during events at the Fundação Getulio Vargas in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro respectively, GPPi co-founder and associate director Thorsten Benner discussed the 2011 book The New World of UN Peace Operations: Learning to Build Peace? The book was co-authored by Benner with Stephan Mergenthaler and Philipp Rotmann and was published by Oxford University Press.

The events brought together Brazilian academics, policy experts and students. They were chaired by Oliver Stuenkel, a GPPi fellow and professor at the Fundação Getulio Vargas. In São Paulo, Kai Michael Kenkel – a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro – acted as a discussant. The discussion in Rio de Janeiro was led by Eduardo Achilles of the Centro de Relações Internacionais at the Fundação Getulio Vargas.

In his remarks, Benner emphasized the need for rising powers such as Brazil to become seriously engaged in peacekeeping reform. This should also include efforts to enhance the learning capacity of the UN as well as improve the human resources system, which remains one of the major weaknesses of the UN peace operations apparatus.