Page 3 - Coespu 2020-1

FOREWORD

Dear CoESPU Magazine readers, indeed we are now experiencing very

challenging times, since the COVID 19 outbreak has significantly sha-
ken our societies and influenced our lifestyle.
In this worrying situation, I do hope that you and your dear ones are
fine. My first thought goes to the ones who are unfortunately, directly

or indirectly affected by this heinous disease, as well as to those who
are operating in frontline to tackle this emergency, to whom I express
my deepest sympathy and encouragement, including the CoESPU staff,
who, since the very beginning of this pandemic, have been actively en-

gaged in supporting the National Authorities to assist the students still
present in our premises and the distressed population.
Of course, considering the particular context, also our activities have been reshaped accordingly. In
fact, our residential educational activities have been suspended, even though we keep tutoring our

students remotely, through the CoESPU’s e-learning platform.
However, in the year of our 15th anniversary, we gathered all our strengths to keep our engine run-
ning, also to offer you this rich issue of the Magazine, which I hope it might - at least - ease a bit these
tough moments.

In particular, this 2020’s first edition covers a wide range of Police Strategic Advising’s issues, col-
lecting features from various qualified academics and practitioners. Stemming from their experience
and relevant lessons learnt, the different authors elaborate on the role of the Advisers operating at
the strategic level, defining possible procedures and operational models, as well as providing a set of

handy tools and best practices in order to deal effectively with the key decision makers, mainly under
the Police perspective.
Among the other contributions, Karla Pinhel Ribeiro and Marcia Andrade Braga introduce the concept
of Strategic Advising based on their different professional experiences, gained respectively as resear-

cher – the first – and Gender Advisor within the UN Mission in the Central African Republic (MINU-
SCA) the latter. In addition to that, Roberto Gonella emphasizes the qualities that Strategic Advisors
intrinsically ought to possess, focusing on the communication and relational skills. Moving towards
another subject, Marco Maiolino and Daniele Plebani provide a thorough analysis of the different for-

ms of conflict that characterised the world stage since the World War II, investigating in particular the
so-called Hybrid warfare and the relevant UN policies to contrast asymmetric threats at global level.
Furthermore, the “In-depth” section features an article by Etienne Antheunissens, Charaf Moulali and
Laurent Grosbois, elaborating on the trafficking of human beings in the Horn of Africa and the related

possible counter-strategies to fight this hideous phenomenon.
Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the brand new section of the Magazine titled “Alumni”,
where you will find the experiences shared by our former students from around the world.
I wish you all a pleasant reading, but, more than everything, I wish you a safe and speedy path throu-

gh this difficult period of our lives.
BG Giovanni Pietro BARBANO
CoESPU Director