Implementing the Humanitarian‐development‐peace nexus in a post‐pandemic world: Multilateral cooperation and the challenge of inter‐organisational dialogue

Abstract

Engaging with the UN Secretary General's call for a more effective, networked and inclusive approach to multilateralism (Our Common Agenda, 2021), this paper discusses the main challenges to the implementation of the Humanitarian‐Development‐Peace Nexus concept. Institutionalised by the UN in 2016, such cross‐policy effort at global governance has been neglected by the IR and IPE literatures. To start filling this gap, the paper identifies strengths and weaknesses of multilateral inter‐agency cooperation on the Nexus approach. Based on previous research on inter‐organisational performance and regime complexity, it investigates select evidence from three organisations (UN, EU, World Bank), in pre‐ and post‐COVID‐19 contexts. Identifying tangible elements of experimentalist governance in the HDP global endeavour, the paper concludes with a synthetic overview of the comparative advantages that each organisation offers to implement the Nexus.