BY PATRICIA TAFT In a year of rapidly shifting priorities, alliances and politics across the greater Middle East, the small oil and gas-rich nation of Qatar took the greatest fall in the 2018 Fragile States Index (FSI). With a native population of barely 300,000 and a gross annual GDP of nearly US$181 billion, Qatar has […]
Author Archives: fundforpeace
Catalan Divorce Proceedings Fuel Spanish Division and Instability
- 19 April 2018
BY AMANDA QUINN October 1, 2017 marked the beginning of an intense social, political and constitutional crisis in Spain as Catalonia, a semi-autonomous region in the northeast of Spain, attempted to secede from the rest of the country through a controversial referendum. The situation spiraled into chaos as the Spanish government first declared the referendum […]
Human Rights & Business Roundtable Annual Report 2017
- 02 April 2018
The mission of The Human Rights & Business Roundtable is to promote the rule of law and open societies. Launched in 1996, the Roundtable was the first forum designed for multinational businesses and mainstream human rights organizations to discuss issues of common concern in an atmosphere of mutual respect, trust, and confidentiality. Today, the Roundtable […]
Operation Vanguard Pre-Deployment Training
- 28 February 2018
BY HANNAH BLYTH In July 2017, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources announced the rollout of a new Multi-Sectoral Mining Integrated Project (MMIP) designed to disband small scale illegal mining. The MMIP’s implementation has so far focused only on the immediate security concerns – establishing a permanent joint task force (JTF) of military and […]
Golden Era of Growth Fails to Mask Deeper Grievances in Ethiopia
- 14 May 2017
BY HANNAH BLYTH Since the end of an almost two-decades long civil war that began in 1991, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has provided relative political stability and enabled strong economic development. Though an inter-state conflict with Eritrea over disputed territory flared in 1998-2000, since the ceasefire was declared between the two countries […]