Resources & Tools

Most international attention devoted to Sudan has focused on the nationwide elections and the 2011 referendum on the status of southern Sudan.  Yet, there are other aspects of the north-south dynamic deserving of discussion and strategic thinking that don't receive their due.  In a new Peace Brief, USIP's Jon Temin examines six important issues and questions that require more consideration as the decisive events in Sudan’s political history approach.

One day after North Korea’s nuclear test drew widespread condemnation, the country on May 26th test-launched two more short-range missiles. This marks Pyongyang's second nuclear test, after its first in October 2006. Amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, South Korea joined the Proliferation Security Initiative, a U.S. initiative to curb the trade of weapons of mass destruction, an action North has called a declaration of war.

An essential component of any post-conflict stabilization program is the permanent dismantlement of armed groups and their fruitful absorption into civilian society—this process is known as disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration. Although Colombia continues to wrestle with violent conflict at the hands of multiple armed factions, the country embarked on a major DDR program in 2003 with the goal of permanently ending the threat of violence from one of those armed factions—the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, or AUC).

What are the repercussions of Pyongyang's and Washington's recent steps on the nuclear issue? Is this a major shift or a calculated short-term move? Read analysis from Senior Fellow John S. Park.

While the October 3, 2007 Six-Party Talks accord outlines a roadmap for the disablement of North Korea’s core nuclear facilities, the specific details of the nuclear disablement process are still being developed. USIP’s Korea Working Group commissioned this Working Paper in order to facilitate a better understanding of nuclear disablement.