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.
Question And Answer
Why Counterterrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan Still Matters
Question And Answer
What Does the Xi-Ma Meeting Mean for Cross-Strait Relations?
Diplomats, Aid Workers Must Take Risks to Reduce Conflict, New U.S. Blueprint Says
America’s new diplomatic and foreign-aid blueprint places top priority on the need to prevent and resolve violent conflict and strengthen governance in an effort to restore a measure of global stability. But to accomplish those objectives, the plan’s authors also stressed that U.S. government agencies, together with Congress, must directly accept and address the inherent risks to the civilian workers who carry out those missions.
Iraq Needs International Pressure, Unity to Stem Violence, Lawmaker Says
Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian divisions, fueled by regional competition among Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, also suggest a way toward a resolution, according to Yonadam Kanna, a member of Iraq’s parliament. It will take internal and international pressure for reconciliation and urgent assistance for rebuilding areas destroyed by the fighting, he said in a recent roundtable at USIP.
In Tunisia, Economic Crisis Threatens Political Progress
The relative stability of Tunisia’s politics—achieved through a “national dialogue” whose mediators won the Nobel Peace Prize—is largely holding. Within a broad, governing coalition, Islamists, secularists, trade unions and employers all jockey for advantage in the usual democratic ways. But beneath the comparative calm, an economic crisis threatens the political gains of the only country building a democracy from the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.
Is Islam to Blame for Its Extremists?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Manal Omar continue their debate on the Quran, the Islamic State, and how to save the religion.
Kerry Says Assad Staying as Syrian Leader Is a "Non-Starter"
Secretary of State John Kerry, in an address at the U.S. Institute of Peace on the U.S. approach to the war in Syria, reinforced the administration’s firm opposition to allowing President Bashar al-Assad to remain in power under any resolution to the 4 ½-year conflict. Before leaving the U.S. today to resume talks on Syria in Vienna, Kerry pledged accelerated U.S. diplomatic and military efforts to end the fighting and defeat the self-styled “Islamic State” extremist group.
Terrorism Study: ISIS Isn’t the Deadliest Extremist Group
Worldwide deaths from terrorist incidents jumped 80 percent in 2014 compared with the year before and were concentrated in five major conflict zones, according to the third annual Global Terrorism Index, released November 17. While that conclusion was unsurprising, the index included less obvious findings with implications for policy makers who have to tailor solutions to specific countries and regions, according to experts who discussed the study at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Q&A: The Siege in Mali
As militant gunmen seize a hotel in the capital of the West African state of Mali, U.S. Institute of Peace Program Specialist Emily Fornof offers context for the incident. Fornof served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, and is conducting graduate research on the country’s conflicts at George Mason University.
Poor Planning, Coordination Cited in Afghan Intervention
Failings by the United States and its NATO partners in the early stages of the 15-year-long war in Afghanistan have prolonged that country’s need for international troops and economic help, U.S. and German officials said in a recent forum at the U.S. Institute of Peace that examined the lessons learned during the past decade.
Iraq Research: Sense of Injustice Is Key to Violent Extremism
Three years of public polling in Iraq by Mercy Corps has put hard figures to an often-cited theory about the spread and attraction of violent extremism. More than poverty, joblessness or any other dispute or social ill, it is the perception—or reality—of injustice that fuels support for armed opposition groups.
The Peacebuilder’s Field Guide to Protest Movements
Protest movements around the world scored major victories in 2015. But if we want to see real change, international donors need to stop fretting and lend a hand.