Resources & Tools
 |
USIP's David Smock explores the factors underlying and perpetuating the militancy in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. In this report, based on an 11-day trip to Nigeria in late August 2009, Smock analyzes the prospects for the amnesty process, and why stronger political processes and economic development could help address the roots of the conflict there. |
 |
The deadly conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed the lives of millions and appears to have no end. A new USIP report provides context to this protracted war, assesses current approaches and presents new options on how to resolve it. Countries: Africa
| Issue Areas: Economics and Development, Environment and Natural Resources, Governance, Humanitarian Efforts, Peacekeeping
|
 |
The trade of stolen oil, or “blood oil,” in Nigeria is fueling a long-running insurgency in the Niger Delta region that has claimed many lives. A USIP special report by Judith Burdin Asuni shows how the big business of blood oil poses a threat not only to the Nigerian state and the region, but to the international community as well. |
 |
More political violence will be hard to avoid in Sudan, barring a quick change in current trends, according to a new USIP report. Much of the outcome hinges on the handling of issues that involve the 2011 referendum on whether the South secedes from Sudan. |
 |
The widely discussed Syrian-Israeli peace park concept is rooted in the assumption that Syrian and Israeli "good will" for cooperation is sufficient to mobilize a long- lasting, firm peace treaty between the two countries. The current discussions on a layout for a peace park provide a description of the mechanisms that will control and maintain the park, but fail to provide the insights for how to keep these mechanisms functioning in one, five or ten years into the future. Countries: Asia, Israel, Palestinian Territories, Syria
| Issue Areas: Environment and Natural Resources
|
 |
In July 2006, Haitian poet and historian Jean-Claude Martineau spoke at USIP and said that Haiti is the only country in the world with a last name—“Haiti, poorest country in the western hemisphere” —as described in the media. Sadly, in the two years since, conditions have worsened. Four severe storms that struck Haiti in September 2008 only exacerbated the already critical problem of the country’s poverty. Countries: Haiti
| Issue Areas: Economics and Development, Environment and Natural Resources, Humanitarian Efforts, Peacekeeping, Post-Conflict Activities
|
 |
The fragility of the Chadian government, as well as the fragmentation among Chadian civil society, political parties, and rebel movements, poses significant challenges that Chadian civil society, regional governments, African institutions and the international community must address with a coordinated strategy. Although the situation in the country is often examined through the lens of the Darfur crisis, several internal factors drive the instability in Chad and its regional actions. Countries: Chad, Sudan
| Issue Areas: Civil Society, Civil-Military Relations, Conflict Analysis, Conflict Management and Resolution, Early Warning & Conflict Prevention, Economics and Development, Environment and Natural Resources, Governance, Human Rights, Negotiation and Diplomacy, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping
|
 |
In September 2008, four hurricanes and tropical storms—Fay, Gustav, Hannah and Ike—slammed into Haiti with devastating force. Nearly 800 people were killed, 300 remain missing and more than 500 were injured. Countries: Haiti
| Issue Areas: Economics and Development, Environment and Natural Resources, Humanitarian Efforts, Peacekeeping, Post-Conflict Activities
|
 |
Examines a host of critical environmental and resource issues through a “regional environmental security complex” that explores the potential for greater intersubjective understandings of regional environmental and natural resource problems and greater institutional collaboration and management. Countries: Asia, China, Japan, North Korea, United States
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis, Environment and Natural Resources, Security and Strategy
|
 |
The much-discussed and often delayed Iraqi hydrocarbon law, approved by the Iraqi cabinet in February, is a bellwether for the future of the Iraqi state. Successful passage and implementation of the law would reflect a strong spirit of compromise and help to calm violence. If, on the other hand, the proposed law fails to pass, it will have negative repercussions for Iraq’s social, economic and political stability. |