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Mariano Aguirre

Mariano Aguirre
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Email: mariano.aguirre [at] peacebuilding.no

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Peace & Security
Mariano Aguirre

Director of the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre (Noref)

Mariano Aguirre is a journalist and analyst with considerable expertise on peacebuilding, crisis of the state, humanitarian action, conflict and development, and post-conflict rehabilitation. 

Prior to his work for the Norwegian Peacebuilding Center, he was director of the peace, security and human rights area at the Spanish think-tank FRIDE.

Aguirre is the author, contributor and editor of several books, among them:  La ideología neimperial: La crisis de EEUU con Irak (Icaria/TNI/CIP 2003), co-authored with Phyllis Bennis and  "Humanitarian intervention & us hegemony: a reconceptualization" in Achin Vanaik (Ed.), Selling US Wars, Interlink publishing / Transnational Institute (2007).

Humanitarian Action; Conflict & Development; Middle East Peace Process; Militarisation, Modern warfare, EU/North African-Mediterranean Relations, State and Violence

English; Spanish

Aguirre is a regular contributor to El País, Le Monde diplomatique, La Vanguardia, OpenDemocracy, Radio Nederlands, BBC, and other media.

Selected publications: 
Selling US Wars
Before Emergency
The emotion and the truth

Recent content by Mariano Aguirre

9/11: a perfect pretext, a terrible legacy (13 Sep 2011)

The tragedy of 11 September 2001 was used by authoritarian forces in the United States as a political opportunity.

What can we expect to see in 2011? (13 Jan 2011)

Changing global power balances, continuing crises, Iran, Afghanistan. Four TNI fellows share their predictions for 2011.

Pernicious parallels (16 Dec 2010)

The United States' protracted fight against insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan have raised the spectre of the Vietnam war. A review on recent literature on US wartime policies from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Stresses and strains in the balance of world power (30 May 2010)

The recent Iranian agreement on enriched uranium with Brazil and Turkey, and the contradictory threat of sanctions by the United States reveals deep divisions in the UN security council on how to deal with nuclear proliferation and is a watershed in the configuration of a new multipolar world.

Barack Obama, Iran, and the nuclear danger (20 Oct 2009)

The tensions over Iran's nuclear programme resemble the prelude to the Iraq war of 2003. But the new conditions of international politics could yet be turned to advantage in finding a solution.
Pressing issues for UN peacekeeping operations (29 Sep 2009)

The resignation of the UN commander in chief in Congo this year is indicative of the rising number of problematic UN peacekeeping missions. For peacemaking in complex environments to have a chance of succeeding, members of the UN Security Council will need to transcend their own national security and economic interests.

Democracy-promotion: doctrine vs dialogue (16 Jul 2009)
George W Bush made democracy-support a central theme of his presidency. Barack Obama, by contrast, has downplayed it. Yet the latter's approach may achieve more effective results.
Torture: America's policy, Europe's shame (17 Jun 2009)
The degrading treatment meted out to prisoners of the United States-led "war on terror" over seven years has yet to be subject to proper legal scrutiny and accountability. But the responsibility is Europe's too, say Jan Egeland & Mariano Aguirre.
Barack Obama and Afghanistan: a closer look (14 Apr 2009)
The United States’s shift of strategy towards “AfPak” needs to go further by taking account of regional concerns and local agencies.
Haiti: unravelling the knot (3 Sep 2008)
Haiti's interlocking crises - from food-security to social violence, inequality to judicial corruption - make it one of the most challenging arenas in the world for establishing the right mix of international and domestic policies. Mariano Aguirre & Amélie Gauthier draw lessons from a research trip to suggest where the priorities should lie.
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