In this episode of the CCDP podcast, Margaux Pinaud speaks with Sara Hellmüller, Fanny Badache, and Bilal Salayme about how shifts in global politics are reshaping United Nations peace missions and their mandates. Drawing on findings from the five-year research projects, the conversation explores how changes in world order, especially the move toward multipolarity, affect the scope, effectiveness, and political foundations of UN peace operations. The episode also highlights how this research has been translated into real-world tools, including the UN Peace Missions Mandates and Methods (UNPMM) dataset and app, and looks ahead to new research directions at the CCDP.
UN peace missions remain one of the UN’s primary instruments for maintaining international peace and security, yet their future is increasingly uncertain. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted in the New Agenda for Peace (2023), the unity of purpose that characterized the early post–Cold War period has waned, giving way to a more fragmented global order.
🔗 Learn more about the projects: A Child of its Time; Communicating About Peace
🔗 Learn more about the UNPMM dataset website: https://www.peacemissions.info and associated App: on Apple store and Google Play
🔗 Learn more about Sara Hellmüller's new research project on consent, which will go on for another 4 years: Yes, I do
In this episode, Margaux Pinaud is joined by Sara Hellmüller, Fanny Badache, and Bilal Salayme to unpack what these shifts mean for peace missions today. They reflect on the origins of their joint research, the central questions that guided five years of inquiry, and the mixed methods used to analyze both global trends and in-depth case studies.
The discussion examines key findings from the UNPMM dataset, including the evolution of peace mission mandates since 1948 and how recent geopolitical changes have constrained political and peacekeeping missions. The expert guests also reflect on how their research has informed policy debates at the UN Security Council and beyond, and on the challenges of communicating complex research to policymakers, practitioners, and the wider public.
The episode concludes by looking ahead to the next phase of research at the CCDP, including new work on consent and peace operations, and invites listeners to explore the project platforms and tools developed through this work.
Margaux Pinaud is a postdoctoral researcher at the Geneva Graduate Institute. Since 2021, she has served as Academic Coordinator of the Executive Programme in Development Policies and Practices and the Conflict and Fragility Management Programme (CFM), a collaboration between the Institute’s Executive Education and the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP). Since February 2025, she has also been a postdoctoral researcher on Prof. Sara Hellmüller’s project Yes, I Do: A Theory on Belligerent Consent to UN Peace Missions. Previously, Margaux coordinated activities for the SNSF/Agora project Communicating About Peace: UN Peace Missions and Their Mandates, which focused on making academic research accessible to policymakers, practitioners, and the wider public through mobile and web apps and a roving pop-up exhibition.
Sara Hellmüller is a Research Professor in the Department of International Relations and Political Science at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She is a peace researcher with over a decade of experience working in conflict-affected contexts and has spent more than a year conducting research in eastern DR Congo. Prior to her current role, she was a Senior Researcher at ETH Zurich and an SNSF Assistant Professor at the Graduate Institute’s Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP).
Bilal Salayme is a lecturer and researcher in international relations and politics. He earned his PhD in International Relations and Political Science from the Geneva Graduate Institute, where he passed his dissertation defense with distinction and no revisions. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, working on the project State-building and the Global Practices of Security Sector Reform at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP). He teaches graduate courses on the politics of the Middle East and international peace and security, and has contributed to a range of policy projects and consultancies, providing empirically grounded analysis across multiple issue areas.
Fanny Badache is a Lecturer in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Geneva and a postdoctoral researcher on the project A Child of Its Time: The Impact of World Politics on UN Peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute’s Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP).Between 2015 and 2020, she was a teaching assistant and PhD candidate in political science at the University of Lausanne, and during the 2018–2019 academic year she was a visiting fellow at the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at the City University of New York, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. She holds a master’s degree in public management and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Geneva and has completed internships with NGOs and the United Nations in Geneva and Sierra Leone.
Jennifer Thornquest
Jennifer (Gigi) Thornquest is a researcher and lead strategic communications professional at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP) at the Geneva Graduate Institute, where she also produces the CCDP Spotlight podcast. Her research explores participatory arts as a form of peacebuilding, with particular attention to the intersections of migration, education, and community resilience.
Contact: jennifer.thornquest@graduateinstitute.ch
Production Credits
The CCDP Spotlight Podcast is produced by the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP).
🔗 Learn more about CCDP: https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/ccdp