Myanmar Election Season Makes Dramatic Start

Myanmar Election Season Makes Dramatic Start

Friday, August 21, 2015

By: Priscilla A. Clapp

Myanmar’s 2015 election season is off to a dramatic start. Massive flooding and complaints about inaccurate voter lists have caused delays in early procedural deadlines. In a midnight raid on the headquarters of the governing Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) party, ministers from the president’s office, accompanied by soldiers and police, deposed the speaker of parliament, Thura U Shwe Mann, as head of the party. Meantime, when the list of candidates was released for the National...

Type: Blog

Conflict Analysis & PreventionGlobal Elections & ConflictDemocracy & Governance

Myanmar’s Vital Election Faces Ferment and Flood

Myanmar’s Vital Election Faces Ferment and Flood

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

By: USIP Staff

The past week’s turmoil within Myanmar’s ruling party has underscored the power of the country’s armed forces less than 12 weeks before parliamentary elections that civil society activists and others say are vital to consolidating a democracy following a half century of military rule. Security forces surrounded the headquarters of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party last week to enforce an order by President Thein Sein dismissing the party’s leader, Shwe Mann.

Type: Blog

Conflict Analysis & PreventionGlobal Elections & ConflictDemocracy & GovernanceEnvironmentEconomics

Afghanistan’s Better History, With Lessons for Today

Afghanistan’s Better History, With Lessons for Today

Thursday, August 13, 2015

By: Casey Garret Johnson;  Ahmidullah Archiwal

He could be known as “the Johnny Appleseed” of Afghanistan. Dr. Abdul Wakil, an agronomist and agriculture minister, led projects in the Helmand River Valley in the 1950s and 60s. He moved Afghan farming into the 20th Century with mechanization and seed types that remain a mainstay. A new book co-authored by USIP Afghanistan Country Representative Shahmahmood Miakhel tells the story of Wakil and 26 other Afghans who worked peacefully for the country’s benefit over two centuries.

Type: Blog

Violent ExtremismDemocracy & Governance

Boko Haram Drives Nigerian Activist to … Generation Change

Boko Haram Drives Nigerian Activist to … Generation Change

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

By: Fred Strasser

The road to leadership for Imrana, a Nigerian activist, began on a bus in the country’s north, when Boko Haram militants came aboard and picked out passengers to haul into the bush. That was when the 23-year-old resolved he had to do something about his country’s bloodshed. Today, an organization he founded seeks to curb the violence that often surrounds Nigerian elections.

Type: In the Field

Education & TrainingNonviolent ActionYouth

In the Shadow of a Massacre, a Peaceful Return in Iraq, Part II

In the Shadow of a Massacre, a Peaceful Return in Iraq, Part II

Friday, July 17, 2015

(cont’d from Part I) It was December 2014. USIP and its partner organizations in Iraq had recognized a June 2014 massacre at a military base near the northern city of Tikrit as a flashpoint of tension that could accelerate into a cycle of revenge killing. Predominantly Shia tribes from Iraq’s south, where many of the victims were from, had accused Sunni tribes around the base, known as Camp Speicher, of supporting, even joining in the massacre. But careful conflict resolution might prevent a...

Type: In the Field

Violent ExtremismReconciliation

In the Shadow of a Massacre, a Peaceful Return in Iraq, Part I

In the Shadow of a Massacre, a Peaceful Return in Iraq, Part I

Thursday, July 16, 2015

In a plain-as-beige conference room at Baghdad’s Babylon Hotel, the anger flared among the 16 robed Iraqi tribal leaders. The men, after all, carried into the room the outrage and fear from one of the country’s deadliest atrocities in recent years – the execution-style slaying in June 2014 of an estimated 1,700 young Iraqi air force cadets and soldiers at a base known as Camp Speicher. The accusations flew across the conference table – that tribes in the area supported the rampage by the self...

Type: In the Field

ReligionReconciliationViolent Extremism

'Justice' During Conflict: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?

'Justice' During Conflict: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?

Monday, July 13, 2015

By: Hanne Dalmut

Governments and rebels alike are readily using – and often abusing – standard justice mechanisms like trials or amnesties during conflicts, even as part of their military strategy. And because they’re using the terminology of Western-style rule of law, the international community generally has failed to carefully examine these practices for their longer-term impact. New research, supported in part by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Peace, documents the trend and explores its potentially de...

Type: In the Field

Justice, Security & Rule of Law

In Kabul, Political Gridlock Is 'Worse' Than Violence

In Kabul, Political Gridlock Is 'Worse' Than Violence

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

By: Thomas Leo Scherer

Afghanistan desperately needs new investment—and a reversal of its current capital flight—to improve governance, build the economy and provide hope for a population exhausted by decades of war. While conventional wisdom holds that the best stimulus for the economy would be an end to the violence, Afghan business leaders suggest that the most urgent remedy would be to reduce administrative and political obstacles, including corruption.

Type: Blog

EnvironmentDemocracy & GovernanceEconomics