Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest analysis and perspective on the world’s critical hot spots, U.S. and global security and issues involved in violent conflict, based on the Institute’s work on the ground and with key individuals, governments and organizations. They give interviews and background briefings to journalists and write for news outlets around the world.
The United States and Iran, two nations separated by a 20-year history of hostility, now eye each other warily across a political chasm. Despite emerging areas of shared interest, the absence of diplomatic ties makes policy dialogue between these two former antagonists a daunting challenge. How to bridge the gap? America's opening to China in the 1970s holds a number of useful lessons for today's diplomacy between the world's olde...
Montenegro's democratic government has recently reaffirmed its determination not to participate in elections set for September 24 throughout the federal state it shares with Serbia, the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY)." The government of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic has decided to allow the elections to be held in the republic, but will not recognize the results as legitimate, following constitutional changes rammed...
Can the Internet and e-mail succeed in helping to establish a foundation for open communications and peaceful coexistence between Albanian and Serb communities in Kosovo? In the mind of at least one man, Ted Waitt -- co-founder of Gateway Computers and the Waitt Family Foundation -- the answer to this question is an enthusiastic yes. Surpassing all expectations, Kosovo Albanian and Serb community leaders in a recent meeting ...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- How might a group of American high school social studies teachers help prevent future conflict in the Balkans? A select group of teachers from around the nation has gathered in the nation's capital to examine how to broaden student interest in foreign affairs. They are being equipped with the tools to help prepare students in high schools across America to develop analytical skills about peacemaking and internat...
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The United States Institute of Peace is pleased to announce that Dr. Judy Barsalou of Arlington, Virginia will assume the directorship of its Grant Program. She replaces Dr. David Smock, who has become the director of a new program at the Institute on religion and peacemaking. Dr. Barsalou holds a Ph.D. and MA from Columbia University in comparative politics and international relations. She p...
Washington, DC -- July 24, 2000 -- Kosovo Albanian and Serb political and community leaders declared a Pact Against Violence at a meeting at Airlie House, in Warrenton, Virginia [Airlie Declaration]. The workshop represented the first time that these leaders have sat face to face and discussed in depth their divisions and how to overcome them. In their joint declaration they acknowledged that they: . . . faced each other...
President Bill Clinton, Father Theodore M. Hesburgh, Senator Strom Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, & Representative Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of Representatives. The presentation took place in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. (White House Photo) WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a special ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Father Theodore M. Hesburgh, member of the board of dir...
Washington, DC -- The United States Institute of Peace announced the national first, second, and third place winners in the twelfth annual National Peace Essay Contest at an awards banquet at Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C. The first place winner will receive a college scholarship of $10,000. Second and third place winners will receive scholarships worth $5,000 and $2,500, respectively. First Place: Jean ...
Conjuring up the spirit and symbolism of Camp David in an attempt to restart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, President Clinton stunned Washington today in his announcement to convene summit talks next week at Camp David. How far should the U.S. go to help bring peace to the Middle East? What impact would an agreement at Camp David have on stability throughout the Middle East? Middle East specialists Jon Alterman, Jeff...
Three decades of relative calm across the Taiwan Strait now may be coming to an end. We are rapidly approaching a decision period in which choices made in Beijing, Taipei and Washington will shape the nature of cross-strait relations - and the security environment in East Asia - for decades to come. Taipei's new leader, Chen Shui-bian, is exhibiting remarkable pragmatism. Beijing, for all its bellicose rhetoric, is pulling its pu...