Publications
Articles, publications, books, tools and multimedia features from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest news, analysis, research findings, practitioner guides and reports, all related to the conflict zones and issues that are at the center of the Institute’s work to prevent and reduce violent conflict.
Kenya Needs a Broad Strategy Against Al-Shabab
Kenya’s government must adopt a broader strategy to counter extremist violence such as last week’s attack by the militant group al-Shabab at Garissa University, according to two experts at the U.S. Institute of Peace. The attack killed at least 147 people, mostly students.
How to Stop Extremism Before It Starts
Endemic corruption is padding the ranks of militant fundamentalist groups. Here's how communities are fighting back.
Aid to Civil Society: A Movement Mindset
Supporting local agents of nonviolent change is critical to preventing violent conflict and advancing democratic development. Civic campaigns are key drivers of social and political development, as is clear from issues-focused movements in Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, and most recently the Middle East and North Africa. Effectively aiding civic movements that are fluid, diverse, decentralized, and often loosely organized is tricky. Drawn from a review of the literature and numero...
Elections and Violent Conflict in Kenya: Making Prevention Stick
To prevent a recurrence of the widespread violence that left 1,100 dead and 650,000 displaced in the aftermath of the December 2007 Kenyan elections, Kenya and the broader international community initiated a multifaceted peacebuilding effort in the lead-up to the country’s March 2013 elections.
U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit: What Did It Achieve?
Two months after the White House invited 50 heads of state to Washington for the first U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on Aug. 4-6, observers on both continents are asking, “What did the summit achieve, and how will any gains made be leveraged?” USIP asked several prominent Africans who have worked with the Institute over the years for their reflections.
Inclusive Approaches to Community Policing and CVE
What happens when community policing—a strategy that promotes collaboration between the police and a community to ensure safety and security—is implemented in transitional societies, in marginalized communities, or to prevent violent extremism or to engage women in providing community-level security? To ensure that they are not doing more harm than good, security, gender, and peacebuilding practitioners must both expand their understanding of policing methodologies and related assumptions and...
Creating Spaces for Effective CVE Approaches
Unlike other counterterrorism strategies, countering violent extremism (CVE) focuses on preventing individuals from being recruited into or joining violent extremist groups. CVE is a complex endeavor, largely because the reasons individuals become involved in extremist violence are in themselves complex and the dynamics are unique to each conflict. Using Kenya as an example, and drawing on observations from a recent visit, the author explores how promoting a more nuanced understanding of radi...
Summer 2014 Insights Newsletter - Resilience
Insights highlights major questions on the research and practice of peace and conflict, to more than 10,000 subscribers from around the world.
U.S. Africa Summit Leaders Face Weighty Agenda for Continent
President Barack Obama and African leaders attending the first U.S.-Africa Summit in Washington next month face an array of factors undermining the democratic development and economic growth achieved on the continent in recent decades, according to three former high-level U.S. officials on Africa who spoke at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Steering Youth from Violence: Lessons Learned
In efforts to steer young people away from violence, context is everything. Whether it's understanding how a program for selected youths in Sierra Leone could backfire or digging deep for the reasons young Palestinian men turn to violence, effective interventions require rigorous research and attention to local conditions.