As a national, nonpartisan, independent Institute, the U.S. Institute of Peace draws on our exceptional convening power to create opportunities for diverse audiences to exchange knowledge, experiences, and ideas necessary for creative solutions to difficult challenges. We serve as an important, neutral platform for bringing together government and nongovernment, diplomacy, security, and development actors, and participants across political views. The Institute’s events help shape public policy and priorities to advance peaceful solutions to conflict and strengthen international security.
Georgian Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli, in Washington to meet with top U.S. officials, made her remarks at USIP August 19. She discussed how her country is navigating regional security threats that have deepened in the 18 months since Russia attacked Ukraine.
On July 16, 2015, USIP President Nancy Lindborg, Kerri Kennedy of the American Friends Service Committee and Manal Omar, Acting Vice President, Center for Middle East and Africa, USIP, discussed the nexus of civil resistance and peacebuilding in the first of a new series by the USIP Global Campus. This event was held in collaboration with the online course, “Civil Resistance and the Dynamics of Nonviolent Movements.”
In Afghanistan and Iraq, but also in other nations around the globe, the United States’ military and development agencies have been working more closely to reduce tensions or hostilities, build the capacities of host governments, and strengthen America’s national security. On June 18, officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Defense Department discussed USAID’s updated policy to guide its work alongside the military.
With Colombian public support waning for the peace talks between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the peace process can be strengthened by finding ways to engage a broader set of civil society stakeholders. One important group excluded so far, the Afro-Colombian population, is working to have its needs and proposals heard at the peace table. How can Afro-Colombians and other excluded groups enhance their participation in the process, and what are the risks if they cannot? The U.S. Institute of Peace held an event on May 26 that answered these questions in the Colombia Peace Forum series.
Genesis at the Crossroads, a Chicago-based organization that uses the arts in peacebuilding, joined the U.S. Institute of Peace on April 22, 2015 to host an interactive panel discussion on building peace and human rights—and the role that the arts and artists can play.
Iran and the world’s six major powers now face a June 30 deadline for converting a blueprint into a final nuclear deal. A unique panel of former U.S. and Iranian officials assessed the status of the talks and the political dynamics that will determine the fate of any agreement in Washington and Tehran. The discussion was held on April 20 at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Amid Colombia’s half-century of armed conflict, with peace talks progressing, the government’s High Commissioner of Peace, Sergio Jaramillo, has called for building “paz territorial,” or “peace from the ground up.” This idea is meant to engage regional institutions, local authorities and diverse social sectors and communities in translating an eventual peace accord into practice. But much is still to be defined. Who will lead and organize the process? How is it to be supported logistically? On March 27, 2015, the U.S. Institute of Peace hosted a session of the Colombia Peace Forum to explore these and other questions with a panel of experts.
President Obama has raised the possibility of another push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement before he leaves office. With stability on the ground already severely at stake, it is imperative that any renewed attempt take account of lessons learned from last year's round of failed talks. On March 23, the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Center for a New American Security held a discussion with Ilan Goldenberg, the chief of staff to the U.S. special envoy during those talks and author of the new report Lessons from the 2013-2014 Israeli-Palestinian Final Status Negotiations.
Nonviolent civil resistance has motored social and political change, even in the most difficult conditions, for centuries. From the Indian independence movement, to the U.S. civil rights movement, to successful challenges to dictatorship in the Philippines and Chile, to the “dignity” movements in the Middle East and North Africa, and recent popular uprisings in Brazil and Venezuela, mobilized citizens have used nonviolent direct action courageously, creatively and effectively. Policy-relevant research on civil resistance is expanding alongside the explosion of people power around the world. Over 80 participants attended this interactive, arts-and-culture infused discussion featuring cutting-edge civil resistance research by three USIP grantees.
People worldwide have been stirred by the dramatic images of “people power” movements calling for democracy and economic justice. The U.S. Institute of Peace held a panel discussion on Friday, March 6, on strategies for governments and non-government supporters to lend backing to movements for social change.