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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.
Knox Thames on the Role of Religion in the Ukraine War
Russian President Vladimir Putin invoked religion as part of his justification for Russia's attack on Ukraine, believing their shared Orthodox history would lend credibility to his ambitions. "Of course, the Ukrainians beg to differ," says USIP's Knox Thames. "It's actually strengthening Ukrainian resistance to [Putin's] aggressive actions."
Common Ground on International Religious Freedom Enhances U.S. National Security
Religious freedom, like other human rights, is strongly correlated with political stability — and repression of religion or belief can serve as a major driver of conflict and violence. Around the world today, we see discrimination against or targeting of religious minorities associated with rising social tensions, intercommunal strife, violence and even mass atrocities. Muslims in India, Rohingya in Myanmar, Uyghurs in China, Yazidis in Iraq, and Christians in Pakistan: all are subject to forms of violence that have corollary effects on broader prospects for peace and stability in their respective contexts.
Maintaining International Religious Freedom as a Central Tenet of U.S. National Security
In 2021–22, USIP’s Religion and Inclusive Societies Program convened a bipartisan working group of advocates, academics, and former government officials to discuss how the United States can advance global peace and stability by embracing international religious freedom as a major pillar of its diplomatic engagement. This report, written by the working group’s co-chairs, examines the history of the US commitment to international religious freedom and the challenges to ensuring that it remains a central tenet of US foreign policy and national security.
In Nicaragua, Crackdown on Religious Actors Further Imperils Return to Democracy
In recent months, Nicaragua’s government has escalated its effort to silence dissent by waging a systematic campaign of repression against the Catholic Church. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo’s crackdown on clergy and church-affiliated organizations critical of their authoritarian regime not only threatens Nicaragua’s religious freedom but also erects significant roadblocks to the country’s return to peace and democracy.
How Teaching Tolerance Can Promote Peace
Instability, conflict and human rights abuses are daily occurrences worldwide, often driven by hostility based on religion, belief or ethnicity. As policymakers look for ways to get upstream of potential human rights abuses, tolerance education can play a crucial role in preparing students to live in peace in our increasingly diverse world. The Transforming Education Summit, to be convened by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on September 16-19, provides an important opportunity to elevate tolerance education into the global education movement.
How Religious Actors Can Help Address the Western Hemisphere’s Biggest Challenges
On the sidelines of this year’s Summit of the Americas, the Interreligious Forum of the Americas brought together over 100 religious actors, faith-based organizations and governments to discuss how strategic engagement with religious and interreligious actors can help address the hemisphere’s most pertinent issues.
A Ripe Moment for Building Peace by Promoting International Religious Freedom
In late June and early July, two global convenings will highlight challenges to international religious freedom and the search for solutions: the IRF Summit for nongovernmental organizations and the International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief. These timely gatherings will bring together government representatives, activists and faith leaders from different religious, regional and political backgrounds to discuss a common goal of ending persecution. Two keys for their success will be creating diverse coalitions to advance international religious freedom (IRF) in a nonpartisan manner and linking the issue to broader concerns about peace and stability.
Global Trends and Challenges to Protecting and Promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief
USIP collaborated with USAID’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships on an initiative called Closing the Gap to study the relationship between religious freedom and regime type, political stability, and economic development. This report summarizes the study’s main findings and offers recommendations for policymakers and peace practitioners seeking to protect and promote the freedom of individuals to practice the religion of their choice, convert to another faith, or profess no faith at all.
How the Taliban’s Hijab Decree Defies Islam
The Taliban continued this week to roll back Afghan women’s rights by decreeing women must be fully covered from head to toe — including their faces — to appear in public. This follows decrees limiting women’s ability to work, women’s and girls’ access to education and even limiting their freedom of movement. Afghan women are rapidly facing the worst-case scenario many feared when the Taliban took over last summer. While the Taliban justify these moves as in accordance with Islam, they are, in fact, contradicting Islamic tradition and Afghan culture as the group looks to resurrect the full control they had over women and girls when they ruled in the 1990s.
Talking to Religious Actors to Preserve Indigenous Languages
In the past, most cultural preservation efforts have focused on protecting the tangible manifestations of heritage such as buildings, worship sites and other physical items. But a 2019 U.N. resolution on the rights of Indigenous peoples emphasized the critical loss of Indigenous languages and its importance to their cultural heritage, thus mandating an international effort to “preserve, revitalize and promote Indigenous languages.”