David R. Smock

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.

In coordination with the United Nations Mediation Support Unit and in collaboration with a number of other mediation institutes and experts, USIP is developing a series of "best practices" handbooks on key aspects of mediation and peacemaking. The series is being designed for experienced mediation practitioners and negotiators, but will be a valuable resource for students and policymakers. Future handbooks include: Assessing and Enhancing Ripeness, Negotiating with Terrorists, Dealing with the Impact of an International Tribunal on a Peace Process; Managing Public Information in a Mediation Process, Debriefing a Mediation Effort, Coordinating Track I and II Efforts, and Addressing Internally Displaced Persons in a Peace Process.

Managing the Mediation Process offers an overview of the process of mediating interstate and intrastate conflicts. Each of its six chapters covers a different step in the process, identifying what needs to be done at that step and how best to accomplish it. 

While the humanitarian and security crises continue in Darfur, there have been some improvements in recent weeks, including the decrease in civilian casualties. However, in the first two months of 2007, 80,000 people were forced from their homes because of violence. How can the international community help enhance peacekeeping in Darfur?

The current crisis in Somalia is much more complicated than simply a conflict between Islamic extremists and moderates. U.S. policy toward Somalia must be more all-encompassing.

The United States Institute of Peace held a two-day workshop titled "Teaching about the "Religious Other."  The sixteen workshop participants were professors experienced in teaching those of one Abrahamic faith about another Abrahamic faith either in U.S. classrooms or abroad.  The purpose of the workshop was to enable these educators to share their experiences and curricular materials, to plan collaborative projects to improve the quality of such education, and to increase the number of such programs.  This report summarizes the presentations of the participants, introduces some promising new programs for teaching about the religious other, and offers lessons drawn from the discussion.

To contribute to the public discussion of whether the United States and its allies should invade Iraq, the U.S. Institute of Peace organized a symposium on December 17, 2002 to address the question "Would an Invasion of Iraq Be a "Just War"? To debate this question the Institute invited four experts to write papers and make presentations.

In this volume, Jews, Muslims, and Christians with very diverse views address such issues as the just war doctrine, explaining their differences and finding often surprising common ground.

The workshop was also part of a series of workshops organized by the Institute over the past year on the perspectives of various faith communities toward peacemaking.  The United States Institute of Peace hosted a workshop on Islamic perspectives on peace and violence on November 7, 2001. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Division of International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University. Of course, interest in this topic took on much greater significance following the events of September 11, which posed questions about how Islam views acts of political violence.

The Institute convened a consultation on Sudan to generate recommendations for strengthening the negotiating process and to help refine some of the issues. Particular attention was given to the principle of self-determination because both the Khartoum government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLM/SPLA) have given at least nominal support to self-determination for southern Sudan.

Testimony of David Smock before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus

The good work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in recent conflicts in such countries as Somalia, Haiti, and Bosnia is well known—providing food, shelter, medicine, and a host of other materials and services under extremely difficult conditions. But does humanitarian assistance in some cases actually exacerbate conflict?

Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Views on Nonviolence and International Conflict

The purpose of the meeting was to see if this diverse gathering of Somali professionals could develop consensusre commendations about how to promote more effective relief efforts in Somalia and how to advance toward political reconciliation and reconstruction  Given their divergent perspectives, the group was able to achieve an impressive degree of consensus on key points. The purpose of this report is to summarize these points of consensus.