To Defeat Terrorism, Use 'People Power'

To Defeat Terrorism, Use 'People Power'

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

By: Leanne Erdberg Steadman ;  Maria J. Stephan

As governments and communities seek the right combination of methods to halt terrorism, one that we too often miss is nonviolent resistance. It’s not that we haven’t seen the power of protest movements that use mass marches, sit-ins, boycotts and other forceful but nonviolent tactics. To the contrary, people worldwide have been moved by watching such movements sweep aside the walls of apartheid, the tanks of dictators or the impunity of kleptocracies...

Type: Analysis

Nonviolent ActionViolent Extremism

Making Peace Among Afghans: Kabul's View

Making Peace Among Afghans: Kabul's View

Friday, March 23, 2018

By: USIP Staff

Afghanistan’s government is focused on building consensus—both domestically and among states in the region—to support a peace process with the Taliban insurgency, according to the Afghan national security advisor, Hanif Atmar. The main challenges, he said, include continued support from Pakistan for the Taliban and an incremental recent Russian move toward immediate cooperation with the Taliban even without a peace process.

Type: Analysis

Peace Processes

Congress Can Be Bipartisan: The Case of Human Rights

Congress Can Be Bipartisan: The Case of Human Rights

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

By: USIP Staff

In an American political culture coarsened by belligerence, dozens within Congress still are shaping bipartisan foreign policies to maintain a strong U.S. defense of human rights worldwide. The ability of Congress to sustain bipartisanship on human rights issues is vital to long-term international stability and U.S. national security.

Type: Analysis

Human Rights

How the United Nations Can Harness 'People Power'

How the United Nations Can Harness 'People Power'

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

By: Tabatha Thompson;  Maria J. Stephan

The United Nations has declared a priority this year to unify and strengthen its work in building peace—and U.N. bodies will meet in the next two months to advance that change. U.N. leaders have acknowledged that a vital element in peacebuilding is nonviolent, grassroots movements. But as the United Nations aims to more efficiently promote peace, how prepared is it to actually work with them?

Type: Analysis

Nonviolent Action

For an Afghan Peace, Work with China

For an Afghan Peace, Work with China

Thursday, March 15, 2018

By: David Rank;  USIP Staff

Defense Secretary James Mattis said in Kabul March 13 that, for U.S. policy in Afghanistan, “victory will be a political reconciliation” that includes the Taliban. Mattis’ statement sustains the public focus on an Afghan peace process following separate proposals for negotiations last month by the Taliban and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. If the United States is to maximize the chances of ending this 16-year war, it needs urgently to pull China into the process, according to David Rank, who headed both the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the State Department’s Office of Afghanistan Affairs during a 27-year diplomatic career.

Type: Analysis

Peace ProcessesReconciliation

Possible U.S.-North Korea Summit: Expect the Unexpected

Possible U.S.-North Korea Summit: Expect the Unexpected

Friday, March 9, 2018

By: USIP Staff;  Frank Aum

This week, President Donald Trump said he is accepting an invitation by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to meet face to face, perhaps as soon as May. Such a meeting would be the first between a sitting U.S. president and a leader of North Korea. Frank Aum, USIP’s senior expert on North Korea, told NPR on March 8 that the news made him “optimistic and terrified at the same time.”

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & PreventionGlobal Policy

U.S. Presses Taliban to Accept Afghan Peace Talks

U.S. Presses Taliban to Accept Afghan Peace Talks

Friday, March 9, 2018

By: USIP Staff

The senior U.S. diplomat for South and Central Asia, Ambassador Alice Wells, urged Afghanistan’s Taliban to take up last week’s offer by President Ashraf Ghani to hold direct peace negotiations. “It is a positive sign” that the Taliban have not rejected Ghani’s proposal, Wells said—and a planned regional conference in Tashkent this month should reinforce international pressure for the insurgent movement’s acceptance of peace talks.

Type: Analysis

Peace Processes