Global Realignments: Understanding Peace Process Interventions Through News
Authors: Roy Gardner and Christine Bell
Key findings: This report describes the methodology and findings from analysis of in-country and global media perceptions of the interventions of international actors in peace-related activities.
The purpose of the study was to explore whether media attention relating to peacemaking or building initiatives, was shifting in terms of the global players involved, and the positive or negative sentiment with which those interventions were viewed. The research described in this report uses GDELT – a Google-based database of coded global news stories – as a source of data. GDELT has codes for news stories that cover cooperative, non-conflict peacemaking or peacebuilding activities. Data on the number of such stories, together with a measure of the sentiment of the stories, make GDELT potentially valuable in assessing the way that news sources perceive interventions related to peace processes.
Case studies of global influence in the peacemaking/peacebuilding space explore perceptions of:
- the US, Russia, and the UN in Syria since 2015
- the US, Russia, the UN, and additional interveners in Sudan after the uprisings
- the UN in a range of countries.
About the Series: The Global Transitions Series looks at fragmentations in the global order and how these impact peace and transition settlements. It explores why and how different third-party actors – state, intergovernmental, and non-governmental – intervene in conflicts, and how they see themselves contributing to reduction of conflict and risks of conflict relapse. The series critically assesses the growth and diversification of global and regional responses to contemporary conflicts. It also asks how local actors are navigating this multiplicity of mediators and peacebuilders and how this is shaping conflict outcomes and post-conflict governance. Explore the full series.