Open research questions in Global Peace and Security Dynamics
238 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 3,176 Global Peace and Security Dynamics papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
The paper identifies a gap in the literature on memory and commemoration, which focuses on the rush to commemorate atrocity. It argues that this trend towards memorialisation is relatively recent and obscures how many countries are erasing memories of violence. The paper seeks to fill this gap by analyzing the different ways states seek to promote forgetting.
The paper identifies the challenge of determining when military support to civilian resistance movements may be warranted as a last-resort measure. The paper notes the challenge of ensuring that civilian resistance movements are legitimate and committed to human rights and international humanitarian law. The paper highlights the challenge of balancing the need to support civilian resistance movements with the risk of escalation and intensified repression.
A Responsibility to Support Civilian Resistance Movements? Broadening the Scope of Nonviolent Atrocity Prevention · 2024 · DOIThe existing atrocity prevention frameworks and tool kits do not adequately address the role of civilian resistance movements. The international community has not fully considered the potential benefits of supporting civilian resistance movements in preventing mass atrocities.
A Responsibility to Support Civilian Resistance Movements? Broadening the Scope of Nonviolent Atrocity Prevention · 2024 · DOIThe human rights implications of Ukraine's martial law on civilians have been largely unexamined. The ethical dilemmas faced by the international human rights community in addressing such harms have not been fully considered.
Overall, major rule-of-law donors displayed risk-averse, superficial policy, minimal stakeholder engagement, a failure to grapple with the nuances of legal pluralism, and a lack of evidence to support existing policies.
The scope of this study is limited to the Libya intervention of 2011 as an important example of the Responsibility to Protect under international law.
The international community's failure to prevent atrocities generated significant criticism regarding the effectiveness of international responses to mass violence. The Libya intervention presents a mixed picture regarding the effectiveness of R2P.
The need to strengthen the Responsibility to Protect framework - The need to create an independent enforcement body to minimize political interference
International law and organizations, such as the ICC, ICJ or the UN Security Council, are often unable to prevent genocide and war crimes effectively · 2026 · DOIThe gap between humanitarian law's promises and conflict realities exposes a civilizational failure demanding urgent legal reckoning. The study identifies a gap between legal promise and practical reality. The research gap lies in the ineffective implementation of humanitarian law protections during armed conflicts.
The binary understanding of war and peace in international law. The complexity of hybrid conflicts. The need for adaptation of international law to the changing nature of conflicts.
Strategic Diplomacy in the 21st Century: International Legal Boundaries and Spaces of Action for State Actors in the Age of Hybrid Conflicts · 2026 · DOIInternational law has not developed a methodology for evaluating cumulative effects of sub-threshold measures. The effectiveness of legal guard rails depends primarily on political enforceability. Violations of the duty of non-intervention often remain without concrete sanction.
Strategic Diplomacy in the 21st Century: International Legal Boundaries and Spaces of Action for State Actors in the Age of Hybrid Conflicts · 2026 · DOIFuture research could focus on the implementation of ECOWAS's protocol on democracy and good governance. Future research could also explore the impact of ECOWAS's principle on unconstitutional change of government on democratic consolidation in West Africa.
The Resurgence of Military Coups in West Africa: Interrogating ECOWAS’s Stance on Unconstitutional Change of Government · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies a gap in the understanding of ECOWAS's principle on unconstitutional change of government. The paper highlights the need for a reevaluation of ECOWAS's protocol on democracy and good governance.
The Resurgence of Military Coups in West Africa: Interrogating ECOWAS’s Stance on Unconstitutional Change of Government · 2026 · DOIThere is a need to examine the GHF's operations in light of international humanitarian law, - The study identifies a gap in the literature on the weaponisation of humanitarian aid.
Not humanitarian at all?: The Gaza humanitarian foundation and the weaponisation of aid under international law · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies the challenge of understanding the complex and nuanced ways in which the far right constructs enmity. The paper also identifies the challenge of developing effective counter-narratives to the far right's illiberal interpretations of democracy and European identity. The paper notes the challenge of addressing the gap in the existing literature on the far right's construction of enmity.
The paper identifies a gap in the existing literature on the far right's construction of enmity. The paper argues that a deeper understanding of the logics of enemy construction is needed. The paper seeks to address this gap by examining the rhetorical strategies used by the German-speaking far right.
The UN peacekeeping operations face significant challenges due to rising confrontations within the UN Security Council and increasingly challenging mission environments. There is a need for new and effective approaches to peacekeeping.
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the relationship between the breach of an international treaty and the use of force in international law. The study highlights the need for further research on the exceptions to the general prohibition on the use of force in international law.
The R2P principle's legal implications are still not entirely clear. The principle's relationship with the existing international legal framework is still unclear.
SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT: CAN THE PRINCIPLE ˝R2P˝ REINFORCE PRE-EXISTING OBLIGATIONS OF STATES UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW? · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies a gap in the implementation of R2P, highlighting the tension between normative aspirations and political realities. The study examines the crisis of legitimacy surrounding humanitarian intervention.
From Humanitarian Intervention to the Responsibility to Protect: Normative Evolution, Political Selectivity and The Crisis of Implementation · 2026 · DOIConsequently, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that all internationally wrongful acts committed by the M23 are attributable to Rwanda. While in certain specific incidents the depth of the relationship between the M23 and Rwanda may render it possible that even this high threshold is satisfied, there is insufficient evidence to support such a conclusion for the conflict as a whole.
The conflict in Syria has led to a complex and dynamic humanitarian crisis. The study highlights the challenges of addressing humanitarian crises in conflict areas. The study identifies the need for effective strategies for non-state actors to address humanitarian crises.
Dinamika Non-State Actors dalam Penanganan Keamanan Insani (Human Security) di Wilayah Konflik: Peran ICRC di Suriah · 2026 · DOIThe study identifies a gap in the understanding of the role of non-state actors in addressing humanitarian crises. The study highlights the need for further research on the application of Human Security Theory in conflict areas.
Dinamika Non-State Actors dalam Penanganan Keamanan Insani (Human Security) di Wilayah Konflik: Peran ICRC di Suriah · 2026 · DOIThe complexity of international military missions in Africa. The need to balance the principle of peace with the need for security. The challenge of obtaining consent from the territorial State.
Il principio della pace e le missioni militari internazionali in Africa: consenso, uso della forza e sicurezza multilivello nel diritto internazionale · 2026 · DOIThe lack of clarity on the qualification and legitimacy of international military missions in Africa. The need to understand the role of consent in the legitimacy of international military missions. The need to examine the limits of the use of force in international military missions.
Il principio della pace e le missioni militari internazionali in Africa: consenso, uso della forza e sicurezza multilivello nel diritto internazionale · 2026 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Global Peace and Security Dynamics
- Accountability and Abuses of Power in World Politics · American Political Science Review · 2005 · 796 citations
- The Legitimacy of Global Governance Institutions · Ethics & International Affairs · 2006 · 662 citations
- No Lessons Learned from the Holocaust? Assessing Risks of Genocide and Political Mass Murder since 1955 · American Political Science Review · 2003 · 414 citations
- Coordination versus Prisoners' Dilemma: Implications for International Cooperation and Regimes · American Political Science Review · 1985 · 272 citations
- The Cost of Shame: International Organizations and Foreign Aid in the Punishing of Human Rights Violators · Journal of Peace Research · 2008 · 230 citations
- Democracy and the Management of International Conflict · Journal of Conflict Resolution · 1993 · 203 citations
- The new politics of protection? Côte d'Ivoire, Libya and the responsibility to protect · International Affairs · 2011 · 201 citations
- Where Do the Peacekeepers Go?1 · International Studies Review · 2003 · 196 citations
- Rwanda, ten years on: From genocide to dictatorship · African Affairs · 2004 · 190 citations
- Blair's Africa: The Politics of Securitization and Fear · Alternatives Global Local Political · 2005 · 184 citations
Most recent work
- The Resurgence of Military Coups in West Africa: Interrogating ECOWAS’s Stance on Unconstitutional Change of Government · Society · 2026
- Speech is silver, resolutions are gold: State influence at the United Nations Security Council (1990–2019) · Conflict Management and Peace Science · 2026
- The Debate over British Reparations for Mandate-Era Governance of Palestine? Three views · The Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History · 2026
- The Security Council Adopts Resolution Endorsing the United States’ “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict” · American Journal of International Law · 2026
- Ontological (In)Security Encounters and the Epistemic Violence of Genocide Denial · Journal of Genocide Research · 2026
- The Responsibility to Protect (R2P): An Analysis of the Libya Intervention (2011) · Iconic Research and Engineering Journals · 2026
- International law and organizations, such as the ICC, ICJ or the UN Security Council, are often unable to prevent genocide and war crimes effectively · Panoply Journal · 2026
- Subsidiarity in global security governance: Lessons from the African Union · South African Journal of International Affairs · 2026
- Democracy under distant pressure: a Commonwealth response to transnational repression · The Round Table · 2026
- Countering US Assaults on the International Criminal Court · Journal of International Criminal Justice · 2026
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