UN Special Political Missions: Charting the Past and Future of UN Diplomacy in the Field

The Policy and Mediation Division of the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) works to advance the UN's efforts in conflict prevention, peacemaking, and peacebuilding. It serves as the principal UN office for providing related policy guidance, operational support, capacity building, and research and analysis, particularly to further the work of the UN’s Special Political Missions worldwide.

In 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Pact for the Future, a recommitment by UN member states to international cooperation in a changing world. The Secretary-General has called for innovating and strengthening multilateral efforts to address new and evolving security risks, including the changing nature of conflict, a fragmenting geopolitical landscape, the weaponization of new technology, and climate change. Among the UN’s diplomatic tools to address these challenges are Special Political Missions (SPMs), which are managed by DPPA and designed to prevent and resolve conflict and to support complex political transitions. This Capstone workshop will undertake an analysis of DPPA’s new data set on SPMs to identify lessons learned, with the aim to inform and strengthen UN diplomacy through political missions in the future using qualitative and quantitative analysis.