As coups and other setbacks have stymied military-led efforts to stem upheavals in West Africa and the Sahel, a potent new constituency of leaders has just gathered to plan nonviolent strategies to stabilize their own core area of the region: northern Nigeria. In West Africa’s demographic giant, economic crisis is exacerbating intercommunal conflicts, crime and other violence — and Nigeria’s federalism gives vital roles to its states in addressing roots of these problems. Ten recently elected state governors gathered in Washington last month with peacebuilding and development experts, business leaders and senior U.S. officials; they resolved to strengthen and coordinate state-level stabilization strategies — an initiative that international partners should support.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance

Malgré les distractions évidentes provenant des crises dans d'autres coins du monde, le désastre qui s'aggrave en Haïti attire tardivement une attention internationale plus large. Les critiques de la politique américaine envers Haïti émergent de tous les coins du spectre politique, et il y a beaucoup à critiquer, notamment si l'on étend la période à l'expérience politique d'Haïti depuis la fin des dictatures Duvalier dans les années 1980. Mais ici et maintenant, ces évaluations minimisent les chances déjà minces des efforts de médiation gérés par la Communauté des Caraïbes (CARICOM), à partir desquels a émergé le Conseil présidentiel d'Haïti, une structure de gouvernance transitoire pour le pays.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance;  Global Policy

El Hemisferio Occidental generalmente se reconoce por proteger la libertad de religión o de credo. Con algunas excepciones notables, los países de la región consagran la libertad religiosa a nivel constitucional y la protegen mediante leyes y políticas. Sin embargo, en los últimos años, gobiernos autoritarios en Suramérica han comenzado a ver a los actores religiosos como amenazas para la supervivencia de sus regímenes y han intentado controlar o aplastar la actividad religiosa independiente.

Type: Analysis

Religion

An uptick in the conflict between Myanmar’s military and an ethnic armed organization in western Rakhine State is raising new concerns about the fate of the Rohingya population. In 2017, over 800,000 Rohingya, a mostly Muslim community, fled to Bangladesh to escape genocide committed against them by members of Myanmar’s military in Rakhine State. Now, emboldened by the military’s increasing vulnerability in the face of an armed resistance, the Arakan Army has vowed to push aggressively to expand its territorial and administrative control across the state. But its leaders have been unclear about their plans to address the Rohingya issue.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

China’s military structure is not prone to change. But in a shocking move, Chinese leader Xi Jinping recently established a new military entity focused on “information dominance” in future wars, with many observers “left wondering what this is going to mean and why they did it,” says USIP’s Dean Cheng.

Type: Podcast