Conflict Analysis & Prevention
Strategies to prevent, manage or resolve violent conflict can succeed only if they are grounded in clear analysis of the causes and potential trajectory of a conflict. Through research, training and analytical techniques, the U.S. Institute of Peace empowers practitioners and local communities with means to more effectively avert violent conflict.
Featured Publications
Pakistan’s Approach to Navigating the Saudi-Iranian Split
Since 2015, the deteriorating relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran—the self-appointed vanguards of Sunni and Shia Islam, respectively—has brought forth a new cold war in the Middle East. Pakistan has spent decades striking a delicate balance between the two countries, but...
Palestinian Politics Timeline: Since the 2006 Election
The Palestinian movement split—politically, geographically, militarily and strategically—after the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections. Fatah, a secular movement, led the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Hamas, an Islamist movement, ruled in Gaza.
Libya Timeline: Since Qadaffi's Ouster
The North African country has struggled to remain unified since the uprising in 2011 and the end of Moammar Qaddafi’s four-decade long rule. During the subsequent chaos, armed groups proliferated, and Islamism emerged as a powerful new political force.
Current Projects
Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding
The impetus behind SNAP comes from case study research that highlights how grassroots activists, organizers, and peacebuilders engaged in nonviolent action and peacebuilding can use approaches from both fields together to strategically plan and more effectively prevent violence, address grievances, and advance justice. While scholars such as Adam Curle, John Paul Lederach, Lisa Schirch, Veronique Dudouet, and Anthony Wanis-St. John have explored synergies between the two fields for decades, the SNAP guide is one of the first to offer practical modules and exercises meant to help practitioners operationalize the combined approach at the grassroots
Religious Landscape Mapping in Conflict-Affected States
Diplomats and peace practitioners often cite lack of familiarity with the religious landscape as a barrier to their engagement of religious actors. In 2013, USIP launched an initiative to address this need by developing a methodology for systematically mapping and assessing the religious sector’s influence on conflict and peace dynamics in discrete conflict settings. These mappings, which have been done or are underway in Libya, South Sudan, Iraq and Burma, help illuminate recommendations for effective partnerships within the religious sector for peacebuilding.