Two research conferences on topics of global importance were co-sponsored in New York by the Bunche Institute and the Centre for International Studies of the University of Oxford. In May 2001, a group of distinguished practitioners and analysts gathered to focus on the inter-relationship between the United Nations and regional organizations in dealing with conflict in Africa. Among the conflicts studied in depth were those in West Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Burundi.

In September 2002, virtually on the anniversary of the tragic attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, an international group of experts focused on the international political and legal aspects of the response to terrorism in a conference titled “Terrorism and the United Nations: Problems and Prospects.”

From the best papers presented at the meetings, two edited volumes are forthcoming:

Jane Boulden, ed., Dealing with Conflict in Africa: The United Nations and Regional Organizations (New York: Palgrave, 2003).

Jane Boulden and Thomas G. Weiss, eds., Terrorism and the UN: Before and After September 11 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004 forthcoming).