How Funders Can Support Nonviolent Action Amid Crackdowns

How Funders Can Support Nonviolent Action Amid Crackdowns

Thursday, July 27, 2017

When China’s national legislature passed a landmark bill in December 2015 outlawing domestic violence, it was the result of an unusual civic movement that reached far beyond groups concerned with violence against women. Instead, HIV-AIDS organizations, LGBTQ activists and legal experts joined the campaign...

Type: Blog

Nonviolent Action

Drought, Al-Shabab Threaten Somalia’s Recovery Plan

Drought, Al-Shabab Threaten Somalia’s Recovery Plan

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

By: Corinne Graff, Ph.D.

Somalia is one of four countries, along with Yemen, South Sudan and Nigeria, threatened with famine this year. Drought and conflict have already pushed nearly 3 million Somalis—roughly the size of Chicago’s population--to the brink of starvation, an unimaginable scale of human suffering. Worse yet is that history could repeat itself—less than a decade ago, famine killed nearly 260,000 Somalis, half of them children under 5. But the situation is different this time in at least two important ways.

Type: Blog

Fragility & ResilienceEnvironmentEconomics

For an Afghanistan Strategy, Put Peace Talks at the Fore

For an Afghanistan Strategy, Put Peace Talks at the Fore

Thursday, July 20, 2017

By: Andrew Wilder, Ph.D.

Senior U.S. civilian and military officials frequently acknowledge that there is no military solution to the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, and that a peace process is needed to reach a politically negotiated end to the conflict. But for years, the military effort to win the war has sucked up the lion’s share of policy (and media) resources. Political efforts to negotiate peace remained a sideshow that never gained much traction. 

Type: Blog

Democracy & GovernanceGlobal Policy

South Sudan: Friendship Over Fear (Video)

South Sudan: Friendship Over Fear (Video)

Monday, July 17, 2017

A civil war that has plagued South Sudan, the world’s newest country, over the past four years verges on ethnic genocide and has left half the prewar population in need of humanitarian aid. As the international community tries to help end the violence, the U.S. Institute of Peace brought two of the country’s promising young leaders—one from each side of the divide—to Washington to pursue research on ways to heal the rifts. By the end of their stay, they may have learned just as much from each other.

Type: In the Field

YouthDemocracy & Governance

Will 'Array of Wars' Persist in Iraq and Syria After ISIS?

Will 'Array of Wars' Persist in Iraq and Syria After ISIS?

Friday, June 30, 2017

By: Dr. Elie Abouaoun;  Mona Yacoubian;  Robin Wright

The prospect of wresting the last territorial strongholds from the self-styled Islamic State extremist group—within weeks in Iraq and possibly within months in Syria—lends urgency to the question of how to address the lingering swirl of internal, regional and global conflicts. In a discussion today on Facebook Live, USIP Middle East and North Africa Director Elie Abouaoun, Distinguished Scholar Robin Wright and Senior Policy Scholar Mona Yacoubian explored the multiple factors...

Type: Blog

Fragility & ResilienceDemocracy & GovernanceViolent Extremism

Iraqi Tribes Sharpen Legal Tools to Root Out ISIS

Iraqi Tribes Sharpen Legal Tools to Root Out ISIS

Thursday, June 22, 2017

By: Fred Strasser

As the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate crumbles in Iraq, tribal leaders are taking unprecedented steps to avert a new cycle of violence that could follow the extremist group’s defeat. In a pact reached earlier this month, more than 100 sheikhs of tribes in and around the city of Hawija made a path-breaking pledge to forego traditional justice in dealing with ISIS fighters and supporters. Instead, they agreed to embrace Iraq’s formal legal system.

Type: In the Field

Justice, Security & Rule of LawViolent ExtremismDemocracy & Governance