Afghanistan’s Rapid Revenue Growth

Afghanistan’s Rapid Revenue Growth

Thursday, September 1, 2016

By: M. Khalid Payenda;  William Byrd, Ph.D.

Afghanistan’s impressive revenue turnaround in 2015—when total government revenue exceeded expectations with an increase of 22 percent—has been followed by further rapid revenue growth in the first half of 2016. This represents an important achievement in the challenging context of Afghanistan, though the country will remain heavily aid dependent for the foreseeable future, underlining the importance of the upcoming Brussels international donor meeting on Oct. 5. There are concerns, however, ...

Type: Blog

EnvironmentDemocracy & GovernanceEconomics

Violent Extremism & Human Rights: A Path to Prevention

Violent Extremism & Human Rights: A Path to Prevention

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

From Orlando to Brussels to Baghdad to Jakarta, few regions of the world have been spared the violence generated by those who see value, meaning and opportunity in joining and supporting groups like ISIS. There is growing international resolve to develop joint and sustainable ways to address the transnational threat of violent extremism. Notably, human rights are increasingly seen as critical and pragmatic components—as part of the solution, not an objective that must either be accommodated o...

Type: Blog

Violent ExtremismHuman Rights

Deploying Art Against War

Deploying Art Against War

Friday, August 5, 2016

By: Joshua Levkowitz

Artists and peace advocates are using public art to oppose violence, notably in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East. The results have varied, advocates say, but the art campaigns have worked to undermine extremists’ calls to violence, and helped communities heal the divisions of war. They have ignited public discussion of local conflicts and even triggered peacebuilding efforts. Art campaigners and peace advocates who have worked across the Middle East and South Asia discussed the uses—and the limits—of public art as a peacebuilding tool, in a recent forum at USIP. 

Type: In the Field

Conflict Analysis & PreventionViolent ExtremismNonviolent Action

Defeating ISIS Through Civil Resistance?

Defeating ISIS Through Civil Resistance?

Monday, July 11, 2016

The extremist group ISIS exhibits attributes of both an insurgency and a totalitarian regime. Even top U.S. generals acknowledge that military force alone is insufficient to degrade, much less defeat an organization that rules an area larger than the United Kingdom. ISIS will only be weakened through a multifaceted strategy combining diplomatic, economic, political and other means. Organized civilian action that aims to disrupt and deny the group’s key sources of power could be a critical par...

Type: Blog

Violent ExtremismNonviolent Action

Muslims Condemn Orlando Attack

Muslims Condemn Orlando Attack

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

By:

Across the United States, Muslims swiftly denounced the June 12 attack on a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, which killed more than four dozen people and injured 53. "This is a hate crime plain and simple," said Nihad Awad, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "We condemn it in the strongest possible terms." The worst mass shooting in U.S. history also drew condemnation from Muslim nations and Islamist parties around the world. American Muslims also expressed soli...

Type: Blog

ReligionHuman Rights

Colombia’s Disappeared: Assessing the Search for Truth

Colombia’s Disappeared: Assessing the Search for Truth

Friday, June 10, 2016

By: Lisa Haugaard ;  Virginia M. Bouvier

The tragedy of the “disappeared” in Colombia’s more than half-century of internal war cuts across the entire society. Among those who were forcibly seized and then vanished without further information are labor leaders and journalists, peasant organizers and politicians, urban and rural citizens. Soldiers and guerrillas are missing, too. The perpetrators include right-wing paramilitaries, leftist rebels and government security forces. In few other conflicts has the tactic of disappearance bee...

Type: Blog

Mediation, Negotiation & DialoguePeace ProcessesReconciliation

Colombia Peace Talks Quicken With New Deals

Colombia Peace Talks Quicken With New Deals

Friday, May 20, 2016

By: Virginia M. Bouvier

Colombia’s government and the country’s FARC-EP guerrillas are pressing ahead with peace talks at a pace that could yield a final agreement by the end of June. Having missed a self-imposed deadline of March 23, the two sides are working quickly through the remaining parts of an agenda set nearly four years ago, reaching accords this month on a process for Colombians to ratify a final agreement and a plan to remove minors from the battlefield.

Type: Blog

Mediation, Negotiation & DialoguePeace ProcessesReconciliation

Dalai Lama Offers Hope to Youth Leaders—and Vice Versa

Dalai Lama Offers Hope to Youth Leaders—and Vice Versa

Thursday, May 5, 2016

By: USIP Staff

Violent conflict, often shaped by religious extremism, is concentrated in many of the world’s youngest populations, underscoring that a more peaceful world cannot be built without youth helping to lead. Five months after the United Nations formally urged governments to act on that idea, 28 young peace leaders from countries facing violence and extremism met the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to work on making it happen.

Type: In the Field

Conflict Analysis & PreventionViolent ExtremismYouthNonviolent Action

In Pakistan, Women Combat Gender Violence through Art

In Pakistan, Women Combat Gender Violence through Art

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

By: Amy Calfas

In Pakistan, a series of vibrant murals has gone viral, inciting discussion, online and in city streets, about gender-based violence and discrimination. Young women artists changed the landscape of the country’s largest cities as they worked with communities to turn local people’s stories into art that claims public spaces for messages of tolerance and peace.

Type: In the Field

Violent ExtremismGenderNonviolent Action