Armed Violence Reduction. Armed violence is a principle source of threat in countries and regions affected by fragility, conflict or high levels of criminal violence. Armed violence is a global challenge. It threatens national security and jeopardizes development, and rarely respects national borders. Armed violence is not new, but its threat to global security is propelled by global factors including transnational organized crime, access to illicit markets, demographic shifts and urbanization. Armed violence can be highly local, and concentrated in sub-national regions, and in cities and slums; it often spills over borders, and can develop broader linkages to ideology (like radical Islam). The SecDev Group is working with the OECD DAC on a concept paper and guidance responding to the challenge of armed violence through coordinated efforts at reduction and prevention.
Cyberpower and Network Effects. The global information environment is changing and shaping the ways that wars and political conflicts are fought and resolved. The Secdev Group designs tools, methods and measures that make possible in-depth studies and assessments of global and specific tendencies and trends in the cyberdomain. The SecDev Group possesses a wide range of capabilities including a presence in over 27 countries. We are core members of two leading research projects the OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor, and are partnered with leading academic institutions active in this area, including the University of Toronto (Citizen Lab), Harvard university (Berkman Center) and Cambridge University (Security Lab). We also convene specialist workshops on issues cyberterrorism, militant actors and the Internet and cyberpower and have partnered with the Centre for Strategic Leadership, US Army War College, NATO and the Russian National Security Council. We also build solutions that enable research and reach into denied environments. We are a strategic solution provider to Psiphon, a leading vendor of circumvention and content delivery technologies.
Engaging Armed Non-State Actors. Engagement with armed non-states actors is critical to finding sustainable solutions. Our current portfolio includes an ongoing study for the Dutch Foreign Ministry (Clingendael Institute) that engaged religious actors in Palestine and Lebanon assessing their potential as brokers for resolving political conflicts. We are also active in Colombia working with paramilitary groups on approaches to alternative justice and DDR.
Security, Governance and Conflict. We have expertise in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, governance and public sector reform, state fragility and the growing problem of “ungoverned spaces,” identity-based conflict and extremism, social and gender analysis, the global market in small arms and light weapons, gang and urban-based violence, and related areas such as security sector reform (SSR), disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and counter-and-anti-terrorism.
Environmental Security, Climate Change and Water Conflict. Links between the environment and political conflict remain poorly understood. Whether diminishing natural resources will lead to a wave of ‘environmental refugees’ or encourage international cooperation, most states are responding poorly to the new challenges they face. We have examined and conceptualised the power structures that prevent the resolution of transboundary water conflict on the Nile, Tigris, Ganges and other rivers. We are advising the Palestinian and UK governments on negotiations strategies based on the principles of international water law. Working with universities in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Palestine, we are studying the vulnerability of communities to socio-political and climate change in the Jordan River basin. Integrating the findings of our environment and political conflict research into policy directly relevant to all states involved is a complex intellectual and policy challenge we are confronting actively.
