Rethinking Coordination between Humanitarian, Development and Peacebuilding Efforts
According to many, multilateralism has run its course. Geopolitical priorities and an increasingly strategic approach to international cooperation seem to support this view.
The UN’s humanitarian-development-peace nexus (HDP Nexus, or Triple Nexus) is a strategy to reduce the humanitarian needs of crisis-stricken populations by tackling the root causes of those needs.
The Nexus strives to improve the coordination of humanitarian, development and peace efforts, particularly during protracted crises and conflicts.
Praised by some for its multi-actor inclusivity and cross-policy experimentalism, the HDP Nexus has also attracted criticism as merely another attempt to replicate top-down, neoliberal crisis management.
Amid increased geopolitical tensions, some hoped the HDP Nexus might bridge cross-policy gaps and foster inter-agency cooperation. But does it? A recent Special Issue of The International Spectator, on which this event is based, discusses the potential of the Nexus to encourage constructive conversation between traditional and new players in the field.